2025-12-17
The Board of Directors of the Superintendence of Banks of Panama issued Agreement No. 9-2025 to update the administrative procedure for handling consumer complaints against general license banks. The regulation mandates the use of an electronic platform for filing and managing claims, establishing specific timelines for admission, response, and resolution through either oral or ordinary procedures. It further defines the rights of representation, evidentiary rules, notification methods, and sanctions for non-compliance or contempt by financial institutions.
Republic of Panama Superintendence of Banks of Panama AGREEMENT No. 9-2025 (November 12, 2025) Updating the administrative procedure for handling complaints before the Superintendence of Banks THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS in the exercise of its legal powers, and CONSIDERING: That following the issuance of Law Decree No. 2 of February 22, 2008, the Executive Branch prepared a systematic ordering in the form of a single text of Law Decree No. 9 of February 26, 1998, and all its modifications, which was approved through Executive Decree No. 52 of April 30, 2008, hereinafter the Banking Law; That in accordance with item 4 of Article 5 of the Banking Law, it is an objective of the Superintendence of Banks to ensure legal balance between the banking system and its clients; That in accordance with item 5 of Article 11 of the Banking Law, it is an attribute of a technical nature of the Board of Directors to fix, within the administrative scope, the interpretation and scope of legal or regulatory provisions in banking matters; That in accordance with Article 198 of the Banking Law, the Superintendence of Banks is granted exclusive competence to hear and protect the rights of the banking consumer, in accordance with the conditions established in Article 199 of the aforementioned norm; That in accordance with Articles 208 and 211 of the Banking Law, the Superintendence of Banks will have exclusive competence to hear and decide in the administrative channel the complaints that, due to violation of the norms established in Titles V and VI of the Law, are filed by banking consumers against banks up to an amount of twenty thousand balboas (B/. 20,000.00), when the bank fails to resolve the consumer's complaint within thirty (30) days and, when the decision on the complaint by the bank, even if timely, does not satisfy the banking consumer; That through Agreement No. 5-2025 of July 15, 2025, the amounts established in Article 199 of the Banking Law are updated, which are taken into consideration for the determination of a client as a banking consumer, as well as the maximum amount to hear and decide the complaints filed before this Superintendence, in accordance with Article 208 of the Banking Law; That Agreement No. 3-2008 of July 24, 2008, establishes the procedure for the handling of complaints before the Superintendence applied to general license banks in accordance with what is established in Chapter IV of Title VI of the Banking Law;
Agreement No. 9-2025 Page 2 of 8 That through Agreement No. 8-2020 of July 16, 2020, Articles 8 and 13 of Agreement No. 3-2008 are modified, in order to establish the use of email as a means to notify the parties of the resolution that admits and decides the complaint and to streamline the processes for the handling of complaints before the Superintendence of Banks; That with the objective of contributing to environmental sustainability, the Superintendence of Banks of Panama, as part of its management, has implemented various actions internally within the institution, aimed at reducing the impact of paper printing on the environment, supported by the use of digital tools and electronic signature; That in working sessions of this Board of Directors, the need and convenience of updating the provisions related to the complaint handling procedure before the Superintendence of Banks have been highlighted, in order to facilitate and streamline its processes through digital mechanisms and reduce paper use. AGREES: ARTICLE 1. SCOPE OF APPLICATION. This Agreement shall apply to banking consumers and general license banks in accordance with what is established in the Chapter IV of Title VI of the Banking Law. ARTICLE 2. COMPETENCE. The Superintendence of Banks will hear complaints from banking consumers against banks, in the following cases:
Agreement No. 9-2025 Page 3 of 8 general license banks in the administrative channel. Every complaint filed will give rise to the formation of an electronic file on the Platform, to which banking consumers, banks or their accredited representatives, as applicable, will have access. For these purposes, banking consumers or their duly accredited representatives must register through the Platform, in order to obtain an access key or credential that allows them to file the complaint and carry out their actions and management within the electronic files of complaints. On its part, the Superintendence of Banks will deliver to each bank through its authorized representative, a key or credential that allows them to enter the Platform, to carry out their actions and management within the electronic files of complaints. The authorized representative will be designated as the key administrator, which will allow them to create different users who may have access to the Platform to carry out the corresponding management. Likewise, the authorized representative will be responsible for the elimination of such users from the system, when their employment relationship with the banking entity ceases. In the event that the bank effects a change of the initially authorized representative, it must notify it through its legal representative or attorney duly empowered for this type of designation. ARTICLE 5. FILING OF THE COMPLAINT. The complaint shall be filed before the Superintendence of Banks electronically, through the Platform, and must contain the following information:
Agreement No. 9-2025 Page 4 of 8 ARTICLE 6. ACCESS TO FILES. In attention to banking confidentiality, only the parties and their accepted attorneys within the complaint process will have access to the complaint file. ARTICLE 7. ADMISSION, CORRECTION, REJECTION, INHIBITION OR DECLINATION OF THE COMPLAINT. The Superintendence of Banks will have a term of five (5) business days to admit, order its correction, reject, inhibit itself or decline the complaint, counted from the next business day following its filing. Once the complaint is filed, the Superintendence will review the substantiation of the facts and the documentation; if everything is in due form, it will admit the complaint. If the complaint lacks or omits any of the formalities established in the Law or in this Agreement, its correction will be ordered, which must be carried out within two (2) business days following its notification. The complaint filed by a person who does not fall under the concept of banking consumer, as defined in the Banking Law, or whose claims exceed the limits established in the Law, will be rejected through a reasoned resolution, in which the archiving of the file will be ordered. In the event that this Superintendence is not competent to hear the complaint, it will abstain from hearing it and will proceed to inhibit itself and decline it to the competent authority. Once the complaint is admitted, this fact will be notified to the parties, their representatives or attorneys. ARTICLE 8. TRANSFER AND ANSWER. The Superintendence of Banks will give transfer of the complaint to the bank electronically, via email, for it to answer within a term of five (5) business days, counted from the day following its notification in accordance with what is established in item 2 of Article 14 of this Agreement. With its answer, the bank must attach the following:
Agreement No. 9-2025 Page 5 of 8 2. The hearing will be held on the day and hour indicated, which must be notified with an advance of no less than five (5) business days, and will be held with the intervention of the parties that attend. In case that none of the parties attend the hearing, the Superintendence of Banks will proceed in accordance with what is indicated in item 5 of this article. 3. Once the hearing has begun, a brief summary of the complaint and its answer will be made, then the floor will be given to the claimant and subsequently to the bank, for a period of up to thirty (30) minutes each. 4. The parties may provide evidence in the hearing act as long as it is closely related to the facts. In the hearing act, the Superintendence of Banks may order the practice of any evidence it deems relevant or appropriate to verify the assertions of the parties and the authenticity and accuracy of any public or private document provided to the process. 5. If the file contains sufficient evidentiary elements, the Superintendence of Banks will proceed to issue, in the act, the final Resolution that decides the complaint or may resort to the term of ten (10) business days to do so. 6. If the practice of any evidence adduced by the parties is required, an additional term of no more than ten (10) business days will be granted. PARAGRAPH. Complaints related to banking services provided through electronic means or channels are exempt from this procedure. ARTICLE 10. ORDINARY PROCEDURE. In those cases where the oral process does not apply, once the term to present the answer to the complaint by the bank has ended, and at any time before issuing the decision on the complaint, the Superintendence of Banks, if it deems it necessary, may order by provision the celebration of a meeting with the parties in person or virtual. This provision will be notified with an advance of no less than five (5) business days. In the event that the parties reach an agreement during the aforementioned meeting, the agreement between parties will be approved by resolution and the closure and archiving of the process will be ordered. When one of the parties has adduced evidence in their complaint or answer, the Superintendence will admit and order the practice of those evidence that are relevant or appropriate. The term for the practice of evidence may not exceed twenty-one (21) business days. The resolution of the Superintendence of Banks in these cases is unappealable. ARTICLE 11. OFFICIAL EVIDENCE. Before issuing the decision on the complaint, both in the oral process and in the ordinary procedure, the Superintendence of Banks may practice official evidence and among these:
Agreement No. 9-2025 Page 6 of 8 ARTICLE 12. ARGUMENTS. Upon conclusion of the meeting with the parties or the conclusion of the evidentiary stage, the consumer and the bank will have a common period of two (2) business days to present their arguments. ARTICLE 13. DECISION ON THE COMPLAINT. Once the procedural stages comprised in the Oral Procedure or the Ordinary Procedure have concluded, the Superintendence of Banks through a reasoned resolution, will issue the decision that resolves the complaint. In the oral procedure, the decision resolving the complaint may be issued in the hearing act itself or within a term no greater than ten (10) business days counted from the hearing. In the ordinary procedure, the decision resolving the complaint will be issued within a term no greater than one hundred twenty (120) calendar days, counted from the conclusion of the argument stage. The resolution of the Superintendence of Banks will have a binding character for both parties and must be complied with within a term of five (5) business days counted from the finality of the resolution, unless a different term is indicated in it. The Superintendence of Banks, in the face of repeated complaints if it deems it necessary, may require the bank to present an action plan that allows addressing and correcting the problems or deficiencies detected as the object of the complaint filed. ARTICLE 14. NOTIFICATIONS. Notifications to the parties will be made simultaneously through the following means:
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Agreement No. 9-2025 Page 8 of 8 ARTICLE 20. VALIDITY. This Agreement will begin to govern from November 15, 2026. Notwithstanding, the ongoing processes initiated before the entry into force of this Agreement will be subject to the provisions of Agreement No. 3-2008 and all its modifications. Given in the city of Panama, on the twelfth (12) day of the month of November of two thousand twenty-five (2025). NOTIFY, PUBLISH, AND COMPLY. THE PRESIDENT, THE SECRETARY, Adriana Raquel Carles Felipe Echandi Lacayo