Marcel Jacobo Laniado de Wind (June 4, 1927 – August 8, 1998) was an Ecuadorian agricultural engineer and banker who held a number of important public and private positions in Ecuador.

He and his wife later moved to Ancon, a small city in the Guayas Province, where the British oil company Anglo Ecuadorian Oilfields Limited established its camp for all its personnel.

According to Marcel Laniado de Wind, his father moved to the camp for protection against the epidemics sweeping Ecuador, as at the time Ancon was an island of development and health.

Laniado Hassig soon pursued trading in the South border town Santa Rosa, El Oro Province, despite the wishes of his wife.

After the invasion Hassig and family moved momentarily to Guayaquil, and then to Machala in the El Oro Province where they started from scratch.

In Machala, his father began making iron components for ice makers and gasoline pumps, and put together an ice maker factory and a gas station as a distributor for the British company Anglo Ecuadorian Oilfields, and managed to save enough to educate the children, chiefly in culture and Jewish tradition.

He admired the positive qualities of the social and economic elites in Ecuador, but observed vices and defects that created inequality and impeded the country's progress.

He completed undergraduate studies at the Pan American Agricultural School at El Zamorano, Honduras, where he graduated in 1949 with a degree in agronomy.

At 30 years old, in 1957, he became president of the Machala Rotary Club, and spearheaded paving the first three streets in the city after raising money from the Municipality and the Development Bank.

As mayor of Machala, he depoliticized fiscal and municipal actions, and focused on infrastructure for drinking water, telephone communications, and wastewater management.

"[1] He ceased to be Governor in 1962, and after fund-raising five million sucres using local capital, he founded the Banco de Machala later that year.

Laniado de Wind's stated goal was to create a trustworthy bank that was not dominated by elite families, and that would encourage private investment to help develop the province.

of vegetables were planted, and a ranch of 7,500 Santa Gertrudis cattle for beef was added, which routinely won awards at livestock fairs for the best specimen of the breed.

He organized the estate to fit the needs of employees, and the farm had a commissary, infirmary, church, cinema, and parks for workers.

In addition, all employee children had to attend the in-house based school, which at the time had a top curriculum, including the practice of the English language as a mandatory course.

[2] During 1970 and 1971, Marcel Laniado de Wind and his main partner Esteban Quirola developed different visions of the farm and bank business.

[3] Laniado de Wind claimed this system relied on the integrity of the singular banker, who was there to simply manage the resources of others while owning no shares.

[3] In 1972, a military coup ended the last Velasco period, initiating the country's oil era and the development of the state as an entrepreneur with strategic resources.

[4] The Banco del Pacifico began to provide credit and resources to regions that had previously been neglected, chiefly serving the middle class and the onslaught of private entrepreneurial companies appearing in the 1970s and 1980s.

The loans were made without collateral or targeted preferential interest rates, with the warranty and ability to pay determined by references from within the artisan community.

The bank managed the loan and provided assistance with accounting if needed, and helped create accessible systems for the time and amount of payment.

[3] "With its unique philosophy of providing greater access to credit to all sectors of the economy, including artisans and small businesses and becoming a catalyst for development of the country, the Banco del Pacifico revolutionized the financial system.

"[6] In 1992, Laniado created a subsidiary of Banco del Pacifico called EcuaNet, whose purpose was to provide Internet service to Ecuador via a second node.

Already a year before the first Internet node had been formed and developed, Ecuanex offered the service solely to nonprofit institutions in Quito such as Accion Ecologica, ALAI, CAAP, CITY, CONUEP, FLACSO, and the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar.

Huancavilca Foundation also provided banking services to the community served by the school by moving the ominous presence of chulqueros (loan sharks).

Laniado de Wind remained a supporter of his alma mater, the Escuela Agricola Panamericana in Zamorano, Honduras.

It started with an endowment from Wilson Popenoe "Doris Stone" to finance the education of Ecuadorians in El Zamorano, with the Banco del Pacifico intervening as a counterpart.

He modernized the transparency of the Institute for Agrarian Reform, and put in place clear policies and rules on the import of the basic family basket of food.

During the Sixto Duran Ballen Government Laniado de Wind was President of CONAM, a government agency dedicated to planning for the development of Ecuador, and prioritizing main developments projects such as improving the Ecuadorian mail system, improving the Communication System, and planning Ecuador Highway infrastructure among other things.

Laniado focused on finishing those projects, and a number of projects were named after him, including the hydroelectric plant, the dam that serves the irrigation system for the Santa Elena Peninsula, The Potable water plant for the Peninsula de Santa Elena, and The Bulubulu flood control system.