Recently, Panama’s legislative branch enacted Law 129 of March 17th, 2020 (the “Law 129”), which creates a “Private and Centralized Registry System for Final Beneficiaries of Legal Entities” (hereinafter the “Final Beneficiary Registry”).
Pursuant to Law 129, the resident agents of the Panamanian legal entities must subscribe to the Final Beneficiary Registry and provide certain information regarding their final beneficiaries, including their identity and physical address.
The information stored in the Final Beneficiary Registry will not be accessible to the public. Rather, such information will be strictly confidential and may only be disclosed by the Superintendence of Non-Financial Subjects to (i) a competent authority conducting an investigation on money laundering, financing of terrorism, or financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, or (ii) when required to comply with international cooperation treaties or conventions ratified by the Republic of Panama.
For existing legal entities, the clients and resident agents shall have a period of six (6) months from the date on which the Superintendence of Non-Financial Subjects issues a statement indicating that the Final Beneficiary Registry has been completed, to furnish the required information.
When incorporating a new legal entity, resident agents will have a maximum term of thirty (30) business days from the date of incorporation of the legal entity to submit the information required to the Final Beneficiary Registry. Such information is already collected by the resident agent as part of the incorporation process.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding Law 129, please do not hesitate to contact us.
