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- 25/05/2009 02:00
- 25/05/2009 02:00
PANAMA. A new storm is threatening the interests of Panama’s financial center.
This time the stock market sector is in peril. The International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO), is demanding that all member countries should comply with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) approved on May 2002, which establishes the rules to investigate and fight corporate fraud.
A year ago during the annual conference of IOSCO, 18 member countries agreed that by the year 2010 they would comply with the MOU.
Panama, which is part of the organization, resorted to the annex B of the Memorandum, which includes the group of nations that could not comply with the regulation at the time of adherence, but have every intention to do so in the near future.
The problem is that the time is running out, because in less than a year the Panamanian authorities will have to implement all the legal conditions to adhere to Annex A of the MOU.
The annex A is similar to the white list of the Organization for Economic Development (OECD) which is formed by the countries that subscribe to the agreement, because their laws allow them to give complete information about the banking and securities information of its members.
IOSCO has identified five main obstacles for the compliance of the MOU: access to bank secrecy, information about the beneficiaries, the inability to investigate in case of a violation of the domestic laws, the use of information in criminal proceeding and confidential information.
In the case of Panama the president commissioner of the National Securities Commission, Manuel Martans said that he does not have reliable information about limited companies or the banking center.
"We are not in the position to give the names of the members of a limited Company and can not even tell if they are bearer shares or not. If we ask another regulator in another country who are the owners of a limited company, he will be able to tell me who they are,” said Martans.
The limited companies system is structured in such a way that it is difficult to identify the true owners behind a limited company, because they do not have to provide an actual address. "In other countries the limited companies laws are different. The companies need to have an actual physical presence and have external auditors that can validate their financial status,” said Martans.
“At end of the day the limited companies and the bank secrecy are an integral part of the financial sector and if it is lost. The Panamanian system will suffer,” said the Morgan and Morgan lawyer and corporate law specialist, Eduardo Morgan Jr.