State Banking Minister Humberto Ortega Diaz says that officials are temporarily shutting down Banco Federal due to what he called its "serious financial situation." The bank is Venezuela's eighth-largest.

Banking superintendent Edgar Hernandez told a news conference Monday that accounts in the bank have been frozen to keep executives from moving funds to other businesses.

Chavez's government has taken control of a growing list of private banks, accusing some bank executives of mismanagement. The government now controls about one-fourth of the country's banking sector.