Ecuador's Cooperative Sector Shrinks — 12 Liquidated in 2025, 394 Still Active

The Numbers

Ecuador's Superintendencia de Economía Popular y Solidaria (SEPS) — the cooperative-sector regulator — reported on April 22, 2026 that the country's cooperative sector has contracted meaningfully, per Primicias (source):

| Metric | Figure | |---|---| | Cooperatives liquidated in 2025 | 12 | | Cooperatives entered liquidation in 2026 | 2 (Incoop, Cariamanga) | | Active cooperatives at end-2025 | 394 | | Total users served | ~7.6 million |

Recent Liquidations

• CREA — Segment 1 (the largest tier). Entered liquidation July 2025.
• Incoop — Segment 3 (mid-tier). Based in Ambato. 5,400 clients. Liquidation ordered February 23, 2026.
• Cariamanga — Segment 5 (smallest tier). Based in Loja. Liquidation ordered March 24, 2026.

The SEPS Perspective

Christina Murillo, the SEPS superintendent, framed the contraction as consolidation, not collapse:

"El sector se está recuperando." ("The sector is recovering.")

The Q1 2026 financial indicators for the largest tier (Segment 1 cooperativas) support that:

• Profitability: $29 million (Q1 2026)
• Average solvency: 17.85% (regulatory minimum: 9%)
• Delinquency rate: 7.54%

The Segment 1 solvency number is the key data point: nearly double the minimum. The biggest cooperativas are well-capitalized. The liquidations have been concentrated in smaller, weaker institutions.

What This Means for Expats

Many expats park portions of their USD reserves in Ecuadorian cooperativas because the rates are dramatically higher than U.S. banks — 7-10% on term deposits (pólizas) versus 0.5-4% in the U.S. A few takeaways:

• Stick to Segment 1. The largest cooperatives — JEP, Jardín Azuayo, Andalucía, CREA (wait, not CREA anymore), Cooprogreso, 29 de Octubre — have meaningfully stronger capital positions. SEPS publishes segment classifications on its website.
• Deposits are insured, but thinly. COSEDE (Corporación del Seguro de Depósitos) insures cooperative deposits, but the coverage maximum in Ecuador is lower than U.S. FDIC levels. As of the last public adjustment, the cap was approximately $32,000 USD per depositor per institution. Do not concentrate more than that in one cooperativa.
• Diversify across institutions. Splitting $150K across five Segment 1 cooperativas is lower-risk than all of it in one — even without considering rates.
• Check solvency ratios publicly. SEPS publishes quarterly ratios. Any cooperativa below 12% solvency deserves extra scrutiny.
• Know the liquidation process. If a cooperativa is intervened, withdrawals are frozen immediately. Recovery via COSEDE can take 90-180 days and may return less than full principal for uninsured amounts.

What to Watch

• Whether more Segment 3-5 institutions enter liquidation in 2026 — the early trend is two in two months. If that pace continues, regulatory tightening is likely.
• COSEDE coverage adjustments — the insured cap has been held flat despite inflation. Political pressure may force an update.
• Cooperativa M&A — consolidation among mid-tier cooperativas is likely to accelerate as SEPS pressures weaker institutions to merge rather than liquidate.

Source: Primicias