Panama will never give up the ability to issue bearer shares despite continued pressure for transparency of ownership. A correction to the Act 47 of 2013 enables corporations to continue to issue bearer shares. This article written by Alvaro Aguilar, partner at Lombardi Aguilar Group explains how it has adopted custody provisions in order to comply.

The Government of Panama has issued a correction of Act 47 of 2013 so that corporations can continue to issue bearer shares. The law adopts a correction to the custody arrangement of bearer shares and the Government has enacted a law that seeks to preserve the image of Panama as a collaborating country in the fight against the abuse of its financial services, and which brings the nation up to date with trends in international law.

The Ministry of Finance said earlier in a press release that the custody of bearer shares allows the Panamanian State to comply with the commitments made by previous governments in the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information, and also helps Panama avoid being included in discriminatory lists which can affect the competitiveness of different sectors of the economy.