In addition to the two audits a year, the idea of amending the legislation to increase the oversight of the 161 financial companies registered in the country is being contemplated.  If Panama wants to maintain some semblance of stability in the financial sector they should make this new law much tougher especially after the fiasco with  Financial Pacific and our local credit union in David.

According to the Panamanian authorities it is important to update the legislation and supervision of financial institutions, as it is an important sector which manages $1.17 billion in assets.

Martesfinanciero.com reports that “… The magnifying glass (supervision) has expanded its scope and financial firms are included in it. The activity has legislation that regulates it – law 42 regulating the operations of financial companies – dates from 13 years ago and for some it is time to renew it. ”

“… While the regulator and those in the business decide whether to regulate the activity or not, experts say international standards in regulation requires a risk-based approach in order for supervision to be effective, they recommend including financial companies and cooperatives. therefore it is important that regulators are updated based on what is required by international standards, in addition to ongoing training that will make them aware of the risk-based approach. ”

Source: martesfinanciero.co