By: María Lorena Cummings
Founding Partner / Consultant specializing in AML Prevention issues.
MLC & Co.
This regulation establishes the "Private and Unique System for Registering Beneficial Owners of Legal Entities" to provide competent authorities with the means to supervise and investigate money laundering, capital financing, and other related offenses, using information on the beneficial owners of legal entities, previously collected by lawyers or law firms as part of their legal obligation as resident agents. For the purposes of this regulation, a beneficial owner is defined as any natural person who directly or indirectly exercises control over a Panamanian corporate structure.
For the implementation of this regulation, the Superintendency of Non-Financial Entities must create a technological tool for registering and storing information from the records of beneficial owners of legal entities registered by local lawyers and law firms that provide the resident agent service.
Prior to this, lawyers and law firms providing the service must register with the Superintendency of Non-Financial Entities, obtaining a Unique Registration Code (CUR), which will grant them access to the Beneficial Ownership System. The Beneficial Owner must be fully identified, including their full name, national identity card or passport number, nationality, address, and other personal information. I understand that the due diligence rules established in Law 23 and its amendments, as well as the confidentiality regulations for handling this type of relevant information about corporate entities by the competent authorities, must be applied.
The information held in the Single System, which is already accessible to designated officials, will be made available to the competent authority, namely: the Superintendency of Non-Financial Entities, the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF), the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). Law 129 also establishes that any other government institution or agency with jurisdiction over matters of money laundering, terrorist financing, and weapons proliferation may request and access this single registry of beneficial owners.
It should be emphasized that the tool will take six (6) months to be developed, from the promulgation of the rule, and after this, the registration of resident agents and information on the final beneficiaries of the companies and legal entities where each firm or independent lawyer acts as a resident agent will begin.
Following the initial implementation phase, the resident agent must register the details of the legal entity and its beneficial owner(s) within thirty (30) days of its registration (in the Public Registry of Panama) or its appointment as the new resident agent. Likewise, the agent must keep this information updated and make any necessary adjustments in the system within 30 days of receiving the new notification from the Legal Representative.
Failure to comply with the provisions of Law 129 entails pecuniary (economic) penalties ranging from
Fines of B/.1,000.00 to B/.5,000.00 will be imposed on resident agents who fail to make the required registrations and updates, or who make them late. These penalties may be progressive until the non-compliance is remedied, and may include other sanctions such as suspension of corporate rights and dissolution of the company. Increased fines will be imposed on resident agents who provide false information about the beneficial owners of the companies they represent.
If you have any questions or concerns about the implementation of this new standard, please contact us. We are at your service.
