Quito court orders Incoop administration restored, suspends liquidation

A Quito court has suspended the liquidation of the Incoop financial cooperative, ordering the restoration of its administration and assets to its representatives. The ruling, issued by the Administrative Litigation Court on July 23, 2026, halts the forced liquidation process initiated by the Superintendency of Popular and Solidarity Economy (SEPS) on February 23, 2026.

The court also mandated that the appointed liquidator, Juan Pablo Fernández Barriga, submit a detailed financial report within 72 hours. The SEPS has been instructed to refrain from any administrative actions that would impede the court's decision. This legal intervention temporarily halts the SEPS's move to liquidate Incoop due to alleged substantial non-compliance with an intensive supervision program since September 2023, which the Superintendency deemed a critical risk profile.

This is not the first legal challenge to the liquidation. A prior preliminary injunction on March 4, 2026, had temporarily suspended the process, but it was lifted on April 15, allowing the liquidation to proceed until this new court order. The ongoing legal battle leaves 5,402 members, with deposits totaling around $17.1 million, in a state of uncertainty. The process for members to access their funds through the Deposit Insurance Corporation (Cosede) has been stalled, partly due to inconsistencies in the database that prevented the beneficiary list from being finalized.

Adding to the cooperative's troubles, Incoop is also under an active investigation by the State Attorney General's Office for alleged money laundering. Despite these accusations, Incoop's legal representatives have publicly denied the claims and are actively defending the cooperative in various legal arenas.