Bill 488.

Summary.

The bill creates the Private and Single Register of Accounts and Financial Asset Holdings, administered by the Superintendency of Banks of Panama (Superintendencia de Bancos de Panamá), to locate minimum data on accounts and instruments held with supervised entities in the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) during criminal investigations. It makes the register free, private and subject to limited access. It covers bank, cooperative and electronic money accounts, securities custody and brokerage accounts, and virtual asset wallets held in custody. It defines account holders, joint holders, beneficial owners, authorized representatives, nominees and competent authorities; beneficial ownership may be identified through a holding of at least 15 %. The definition of obliged entities refers to Law 23 of 2015 (ley 23 de 2015) and its regulations under executive decrees No. 363 of 2015 (decretos ejecutivos N° 363 de 2015) and No. 35 of September 06, 2022.

Financial obliged entities under Article 22 of Law 23 of 2015 (Ley 23 de 2015) would enroll and submit data on existing, opened, changed or closed instruments. The bill groups entities supervised by the Superintendency of Banks of Panama, the Securities Market Superintendency (Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores), the Insurance and Reinsurance Superintendency of Panama (Superintendencia de Seguros y Reaseguros de Panamá), and the Panamanian Autonomous Cooperative Institute (Instituto Panameño Autónomo Cooperativo). They include banks, the Agricultural Development Bank (Banco de Desarrollo Agropecuario), the National Mortgage Bank (Banco Hipotecario Nacional), securities intermediaries, insurers and credit cooperatives. Virtual asset service providers holding customer assets would join when special rules classify them as financial obliged entities. The administrator would assign credentials and data formats; existing records would have up to one hundred twenty (120) days for submission, while openings, changes and closures would be reported within ten (10) working days. Obliged entities would be responsible for data quality and updates.

For bank and cooperative accounts, electronic wallets, securities accounts and virtual assets in custody, Articles 9 to 12 specify instrument and entity identifiers, dates, status, holders, other parties and beneficial owners, with further fields depending on the product. Article 9 requires specified changes to be updated within forty-eight (48) working hours. The register would exclude balances, transactions, statements, positions, contracts, keys and other sensitive financial data; obtaining those records would remain subject to legal procedures and banking secrecy.

The Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio Público), through the Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la Nación) and the Judicial Investigation Directorate of the National Police (Dirección de Investigación Judicial de la Policía Nacional), could request reasoned queries for criminal investigations. The Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) and the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) could also do so when exercising investigative or examining functions under the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama (Constitución Política de la República de Panamá). A request would identify the case, need, persons, period and responsible official; the response would be limited to existence and identifying data. Access logs would be retained for five (5) years, and misuse would entail liability.

The Superintendency of Banks of Panama would administer security and could conclude interoperability agreements with sector supervisors. Each supervisor would oversee its obliged entities. The bill provides fines for failure to register or update information, with additional fines and a remediation plan for systematically deficient data quality. For the system against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation, it establishes principles covering risk, technical independence, coordination, confidentiality and accountability. The National Commission Against Money Laundering (Comisión Nacional Contra el Blanqueo de Capitales) would send an annual statistical report to the Economy and Finance Committee (Comisión de Economía y Finanzas) of the National Assembly, covering the performance of the Superintendency of Banks (Superintendencia de Bancos), the Insurance and Reinsurance Superintendency (Superintendencia de Seguros y Reaseguros), the Superintendency of Non-Financial Entities (Superintendencia de Sujeto No Financieros), and the Financial Analysis Unit (Unidad de Análisis Financiero), among other bodies.

Sector resolutions would regulate implementation, which would proceed in four (4) phases. The National Authority for Government Innovation (Autoridad Nacional para la Innovación Gubernamental) would provide technological support. The Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) would submit a bill creating the Financial Intelligence Authority (Autoridad de Inteligencia Financiera) and issue implementing regulations. International information exchange would follow existing legal channels, and banking secrecy would remain in place; the text also mentions Law 81 of 2021 (ley 81 de 2021) and Article 159(12) of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama. The provisions could concern investigative and supervisory authorities, banks, cooperatives, insurers, securities intermediaries, electronic money issuers and virtual asset custodians.