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Friday, January 29th, 2016  |  USD: Buy 531.29 / Sell 543.92
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Banks will more closely monitor financial transactions

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October 2nd, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) The Superintendent of Financial Institutions (SUGEF) is strengthening its monitoring of bank transactions equal to or greater than $10,000 USD as part of a plan to increase its measures against money laundering and terrorist financing.

 

The new regulation requires financial institutions to gather more detailed information on customers performing such transactions, regardless if the customer is an individual or business, Costa Rican or foreign.

 

While SUGEF’s press statement was vague, the legislation requires banks to gather information on all shareholders of a corporation who possess at least 10% of shares, and to ensure that foreigners provide Costa Rican – issued identification (cedulas).

 

“The legislation provides that supervised institutions should conduct risk management against money laundering and terrorist financing that allows them to know the customer and identify their risks,” said SUGEF chief, Javier Cascante.

 

During 2012, financial institutions in the country reported 1.7 million transactions equal to or greater than $10,000, half of which were in cash.

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  • rusty jones

    Obamas IRS is looking to see who they can tax

  • Ken Morris

    Wow, that last paragraph finally gave me a sense of the magnitude of the problem (and what is depressing the value of the dollar). If my math is correct, 2012 saw 850,000 cash deposits worth in the aggregate of over $2.3 billion in CR banks. Not much of this is legitimate business. Maybe supermarkets and casinos sometimes make cash deposits over $10,000, but I can’t think of many other businesses that would. The sale of a house, car, boat, or business might involve a large cash deposit, as also might insurance claims, occasional stock purchases, and a few other things, but it’s hard to believe that there are over a couple thousand of these legitimate cash transactions everyday. A few expats may make deposits in excess of $10,000, but I think most of us are of more modest means. In all, it looks like there is a hell of a lot of money being laundered in CR, which pisses me off–not only because of the crime involved but because it is costing me money in my lousy exchange rate!

  • expatin paradise

    This article says that Costa Rican government-issued identification is needed, so I assume that a cedula juridica would be of no value for such transactions. I wonder how this will affect foreign investments. If one must present identification in the form of a CR cedula card, how can one transfer funds to CR banks in the absence of legal residency? Many expats or potential expats buy property here with funds transferred to CR banks from US banks before they have established residency (I did).

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