Panama: Financial Sector Assessment Program - Technical Note on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)
IMF Staff Country Reports, July 19, 2024
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- Panama: Financial Sector Assessment Program - Technical Note on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)
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Bibliographic details
- Published: July 19, 2024
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400284762.002
Summary
- This technical note explains Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) issues in Panama.
- Enhancing transparency of legal persons and arrangements established in Panama has been a top priority for the country and remains the subject of ongoing reforms.
- The continuous and large-scale outreach efforts to promote registration in the Registro Único de Beneficiarios Finales (RUBF) are commendable and need to be sustained.
- As a result of concerted efforts to ‘clean up’ the public registry, Panama currently has a large number of suspended legal persons—close to half a million—that require a path to dissolution.
Key Findings
- Transparency efforts: Large-scale outreach to promote RUBF registration is ongoing and considered commendable.
- Registry status: There are close to half a million suspended legal persons in the public registry following cleanup efforts.
- Corporate landscape: The corporate landscape in Panama is evolving and requires continued monitoring and updated risk assessments to reflect emerging business models and potential exposures to new threats and vulnerabilities.
- Virtual assets: Legislation addressing virtual assets and virtual asset service providers is absent and needs to be enacted in line with Financial Action Task Force Recommendation 15 and international best practices.
Risks and Monitoring
- Emerging risks: New business models and technologies create potential exposures to new threats and vulnerabilities that are not fully captured by existing assessments.
- Registry backlog: The large stock of suspended legal persons represents a structural issue that requires a legislative and operational path to dissolution to reduce risks associated with inactive or noncompliant entities.
- Ongoing vigilance: Continuous monitoring and periodic updates to risk assessments are necessary to keep pace with changes in the financial and corporate sectors.
Policy Recommendations
- Sustain outreach: Continue and sustain continuous and large-scale outreach efforts to promote registration in the RUBF.
- Address suspended entities: Establish a clear path to dissolution for the close to half a million suspended legal persons in the public registry.
- Update risk assessments: Monitor the evolving corporate landscape closely and update risk assessments to reflect emerging business models and potential exposures to new threats and vulnerabilities.
- Enact virtual-asset legislation: Enact legislation addressing virtual assets and virtual asset service providers that complies with Financial Action Task Force Recommendation 15 and international best practices.
Source: IMF Staff Country Report — Panama: Financial Sector Assessment Program - Technical Note on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
Content in this bundle
- 1panea2024004