Banks in Panama Must Identify Owners of Corporations


News from Panama / Tuesday, December 30th, 2014

stock-certificates

The Superintendency of Banks has established an obligation for banks to identify the ultimate beneficiaries of corporations that are their clients.
“… ARTICLE 1. IDENTIFICATION OF FINAL BENEFICIARY OF CORPORATIONS.
For the purposes stated in Article 4 paragraph 1, letter g of Agreement No. 12-2005. the bank must ensure the ultimate beneficiary or identify the true owner of a legal person. In the case of corporations, banks must request the documents evidencing the name of the natural person identified as the beneficial owner and holder of the share certificates of the corporation considering the percentages established in the General Resolution Board SBP -GJD-0004-2014 of January 28, 2014.

ARTICLE 2. CORPORATIONS WITH BEARER SHARES. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding article, in the case of companies whose social agreement allows the issuance of bearer shares, the bank must apply certain options that will be published with the issuance of further regulation.