Agreement Establishing Administrative Measures for the Continuity of Activities of the National Banking and Securities Commission During the COVID-19 Health Contingency

AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR THE CONTINUITY OF ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL BANKING AND SECURITIES COMMISSION IN THE ATTENTION OF MATTERS PROCESSED BEFORE IT, DURING THE HEALTH CONTINGENCY CAUSED BY COVID-19

Published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on July 15, 2020, modified by Agreement published in the same Gazette on November 23, 2020.

The President of the National Banking and Securities Commission, based on the provisions of Articles 1, third paragraph; 4, fourth paragraph, and 73, section XVI, Bases 1st to 3rd of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States; 2, 3, 4, 6, 6 Bis, 14, and 16 of the Law of the National Banking and Securities Commission; 9 and 11 of the Internal Regulations of the National Banking and Securities Commission, as well as in the “Agreement Establishing Temporary and Extraordinary Measures and Suspending Certain Deadlines for the Attention of Financial Entities and Persons Subject to Supervision of the National Banking and Securities Commission, Due to the Coronavirus Named COVID-19”, published on March 26, 2020, in the Official Gazette of the Federation, and the number SEGUNDO of the AGREEMENT by which the term of the period in which deadlines are suspended with respect to hearings, procedures, and processes that are in progress, are carried out, or must be carried out before the National Banking and Securities Commission, as well as the effects of the other provisions contained in the Agreement Establishing Temporary and Extraordinary Measures and Suspending Certain Deadlines for the Attention of Financial Entities and Persons Subject to Supervision of the National Banking and Securities Commission, Due to the Coronavirus Named COVID-19, published on March 26, 2020, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on April 17, 2020; and

CONSIDERING

That on March 26, 2020, the Agreement Establishing Temporary and Extraordinary Measures and Suspending Certain Deadlines for the Attention of Financial Entities and Persons Subject to Supervision of the National Banking and Securities Commission, Due to the Coronavirus Named COVID-19 (CNBV Agreement), was published in the evening edition of the Official Gazette of the Federation, through which, among other things, deadlines with respect to hearings, procedures, and processes that are in progress, are carried out, or must be carried out before the Commission were suspended from March 23 to April 19, 2020, empowering the President of said Commission to modify or temporarily invalidate those legal provisions issued for Financial Entities and persons subject to supervision of the Commission, which are necessary to provide the administrative facilities required, without prejudice to the participation that, if applicable, corresponds to the other financial authorities;

That through agreements published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on April 17 and 28, May 29, and June 29, 2020, the term of the suspension of deadlines referred to in the previous consideration was extended to April 30, May 30, June 30, and July 15, 2020, respectively, maintaining the effects of the other provisions provided in the CNBV Agreement. Additionally, in the publication of April 17, 2020, the Board of Directors of the National Banking and Securities Commission extended for as long as necessary to address the health contingency and its effects or until such time as said Board of Directors determines, the powers of the President of the National Banking and Securities Commission provided in the CNBV Agreement, as well as to extend the term of the period in which deadlines are suspended for as long as necessary to address the health contingency and its effects;

That on May 14, 2020, the Ministry of Health published in the Official Gazette of the Federation the Agreement Establishing a Strategy for the Reopening of Social, Educational, and Economic Activities, as well as a regional traffic light system to evaluate weekly the epidemiological risk related to the reopening of activities in each federal entity, as well as extraordinary actions, modified by a similar publication in the same dissemination medium on May 15, 2020, which aims to establish a strategy for the reopening of social, educational, and economic activities, as well as a regional traffic light system to evaluate weekly the epidemiological risk related to the reopening of activities in each federal entity; in order for the return of society to its general activities to occur in a reliable environment that reduces, as much as possible, the risks caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, and in this way continue with its eradication, to give way to the prompt economic recovery;

That in Mexico City, where the Commission's headquarters are located, on May 20, 2020, the Head of Government announced the Gradual Plan Towards the New Normality in Mexico City, which establishes the implementation of a staggered return that prioritizes the right to health to contain the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and avoid new outbreaks of infection, with the purpose of generating a healthy life and coexistence based on an Epidemiological Traffic Light Daily with four colors: red, orange, yellow, and green, for the staggered reopening of various work, government, education, public spaces, and transportation activities, situation of vulnerable persons, epidemiological follow-up, and monitoring of COVID-19;

That, in addition to what is stated in the previous consideration, the Government of Mexico City has declared that the city is in an orange traffic light;

That it is necessary to flexibly the manner in which financial entities and persons subject to supervision of the Commission present information for the processing of procedures, requests, and compliance with obligations, in accordance with what is established in the General Provisions applicable to entities and persons referred to in Articles 3, sections IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII, and 4, section XXX, of the Law of the National Banking and Securities Commission, as well as to the general public, in the delivery and receipt of documents at the National Banking and Securities Commission, and

That, in order for the Commission to be consistent with the measures established by the country's health authorities and the Head of Government of Mexico City where the headquarters of this decentralized body are located, to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus and with the purpose of avoiding the physical concentration, transit, or displacement of persons in the facilities of the National Banking and Securities Commission, until such time as the health authority determines that there is no epidemiological risk related to the gradual, cautious, and orderly opening of activities related to the Federal Public Administration and a green traffic light is established in Mexico City, it is necessary to establish temporary and extraordinary measures to continue the procedures and matters within the competence of this financial authority, has resolved to issue the following:

AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR THE CONTINUITY OF ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL BANKING AND SECURITIES COMMISSION IN THE ATTENTION OF MATTERS PROCESSED BEFORE IT, DURING THE HEALTH CONTINGENCY CAUSED BY COVID-19

FIRST. Starting July 16, 2020, the calculation of deadlines, both those provided for by periods or natural days and those provided for in business days indicated in the applicable regulations, resumes with respect to procedures and processes initiated before the National Banking and Securities Commission that are in progress, also considering the obligations that must be communicated or resolved before the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, through this Commission, in matters of prevention of operations with resources of illicit origin, except for the exceptions contained in this Agreement and those indicated below:

I. Starting August 3, 2020, the calculation of deadlines, both those provided for by periods or natural days and those provided for in business days, resumes with respect to the following matters:

1. Systems and manuals for the receipt and assignment of securities operations (RINOS) of banks and brokerage houses, referred to in Articles 53 and 81 of the Credit Institutions Law; 257 and 259 of the General Provisions applicable to credit institutions; 180 of the Securities Market Law; as well as 57 and 59 of the General Provisions applicable to brokerage houses.

2. Taking note of methodologies and tariffs presented for authorization by the derivatives exchange referred to in the First and Seventeenth of the Rules to which participants in the derivatives contracts market must adhere.

3. Authorization of modification to documentation delivered to organize as self-regulatory bodies, referred to in Article 5, last paragraph of the General Provisions applicable to self-regulatory bodies.

4. BIA and BCP Derivatives Exchange Opinion, referred to in the Thirteenth and Nineteenth of the Prudential Provisions to which participants in the derivatives contracts market will be subject.

II. Starting August 17, 2020, the calculation of deadlines, both those provided for by periods or natural days and those provided for in business days, resumes with respect to the following matters:

1. All procedures and processes under the Popular Savings and Credit Law, the General Law of Auxiliary Credit Organizations and Activities, the Credit Unions Law, the Law to Regulate the Activities of Savings and Loan Cooperative Societies, and the Securities Market Law for the case of the Register of Investment Advisors, as well as the general provisions emanating from said laws, which have been entered into the National Banking and Securities Commission after March 29, 2020, and those that are entered in the period between July 16 and August 17, 2020.

The foregoing, except for procedures and processes corresponding to multiple-object financial societies referred to in the General Law of Auxiliary Credit Organizations and Activities, which will resume in accordance with the first paragraph of FIRST of this Agreement starting July 16, 2020.

2. All procedures and processes related to requests for authorization to organize and operate as Financial Technology Institutions, under the Law to Regulate Financial Technology Institutions and the General Provisions emanating from said law, including those entered prior to March 29, 2020, through the single window for receipt and delivery of documentation of the Official Records Office of the National Banking and Securities Commission, due to the suspension of activities referred to in the consideration of this Agreement.

3. Information and documentation requirements, as well as orders for securing or unblocking accounts, transfers, or fund status issued by competent judicial, federal tax, and administrative authorities, relating to operations carried out by clients and users of financial services with the entities, subject to applicable legal provisions in matters of financial secrecy.

4. Provision of services by banks, brokerage houses, and multiple-object financial societies that maintain links with credit institutions, in relation to Articles 46 of the Credit Institutions Law; 326 and 328 of the General Provisions applicable to credit institutions; 219 of the Securities Market Law; as well as 206 Bis and 206 Bis 2 of the General Provisions applicable to brokerage houses, and 87-D of the General Law of Auxiliary Credit Organizations and Activities and 72, section XIII of the General Provisions applicable to general deposit warehouses, exchange houses, credit unions, and regulated multiple-object financial societies.

5. Commercial commissions referred to in Articles 319, 320, and 321 of the General Provisions applicable to credit institutions and 72, section XIII of the General Provisions applicable to general deposit warehouses, exchange houses, credit unions, and regulated multiple-object financial societies.

6. Self-correction programs referred to in Articles 109 Bis 9 and 109 Bis 10 of the Credit Institutions Law; 86 Bis 3 of the Investment Funds Law, and 395 Bis of the Securities Market Law.

7. Resolution of this Commission with respect to plans for excess financing limits referred to in Articles 54 and 61 of the General Provisions applicable to credit institutions. The foregoing understood that entities must give notice and deliver the corresponding information in accordance with applicable regulations.

8. Modifications to documents presented for authorization or approval of securities rating agencies, price providers, and societies that administer systems to facilitate securities operations referred to in Articles 254, 324, and 335 of the Securities Market Law.

9. Modifications to documents presented for authorization or approval of societies that administer systems to facilitate securities operations relative to: internal regulations, bylaws, partners, directors, and executives; general operation plan, code of conduct, and means to disseminate quotes, referred to in Article 254 of the Securities Market Law.

10. Contingency plans for those entities that are not considered of systemic importance in relation to Articles 172 Bis 37 and 172 Bis 38 of the General Provisions applicable to credit institutions.

11. Internal methodologies referred to in Articles 2 Bis 66 and 2 Bis 113 of the General Provisions applicable to credit institutions.

12. Modifications to documents presented for authorization or approval of securities rating agencies relative to: modifications to rating methodologies, code of conduct, general operation plans, internal manuals, change of executives and directors in relation to Article 335 of the Securities Market Law.

III. The calculation of deadlines, both those provided for in periods or natural days and those provided for in business days, resumes with respect to:

1. The renewals of registration in the Register of Currency Centers and Money Transmitters referred to in the General Law of Auxiliary Credit Organizations and Activities, whose application was entered before the publication of the CNBV Agreement, which will be calculated from the entry into force of this Agreement at the point where they were paused, that is, without it being understood as their restart, and in accordance with the procedure established in number SEGUNDO of the Reactivation Agreement.

The renewals of registration in the Register of Currency Centers and Money Transmitters referred to in the General Law of Auxiliary Credit Organizations and Activities, whose application should or will be entered after the publication of the CNBV Agreement, will be carried out under the following terms:

a) Start. The National Banking and Securities Commission will enable an electronic portal with the purpose of receiving the applications indicated in this paragraph, as well as the information and documentation referred to in the third paragraph of Article 7 of the General Provisions relative to the registration of currency centers and money transmitters, so that societies must expressly request to be registered to have access to said portal, in accordance with what is indicated in the notice that will be notified through the “SITI PLD” system, for such purposes;

b) Deadlines. To enter the application for access to the electronic portal, the following two periods are established:

Period 1
Currency centers and money transmitters whose deadline for submission of their application would have corresponded between March 23 and June 30, both inclusive, 2020.
May request access to the portal starting November 23, 2020.

Period 2
Currency centers and money transmitters whose deadline for submission of their application would have corresponded between July 1 and December 31, both inclusive, 2020.
May request access to the portal starting December 7, 2020.

c) Validity of registration. The registration of those currency centers and money transmitters whose validity expired after the publication of the CNBV Agreement, will be understood as valid until the National Banking and Securities Commission resolves appropriately regarding the respective renewal application, and

d) Start of validity of the renewal. Will begin to be calculated from the day following the expiration date of the registration established in the inscription or renewal letters, as applicable, issued by this Commission during the 2017 exercise.

2. Starting December 1, 2020, the processes related to the start of operations of new entities.

3. Starting March 1, 2021, the update of the authorization to act as a stock operator or attorney-in-fact in relation to Article 6 of the General Provisions applicable to securities operators and attorneys-in-fact of intermediaries in the securities market for the celebration of operations with the public.

SECOND. The information that must be presented to this National Banking and Securities Commission under the laws relative to the financial system and the general provisions issued by the Commission itself, for the processing of requests, procedures, and processes within the competence of this decentralized body or the compliance with obligations incumbent on financial entities and persons subject to supervision of the Commission, whose presentation is not established to be carried out through the Interinstitutional System for Information Transfer, the Securities Information Transfer System, the Securities Information Transfer System-2, or other electronic means, must be presented digitally from Monday to Friday in a schedule of 9:00 to 15:00 hours, according to its nature and characteristics, to the following email addresses:

Vice Presidency of Stock Supervision:
VPSupervisionB@cnbv.gob.mx

Vice Presidency of Supervision of Development Banking and Popular Finance:
VPSupervisionBDFP@cnbv.gob.mx

Vice Presidency of Supervision of Groups and Financial Intermediaries A:
VPSupervisionGIFA@cnbv.gob.mx

Vice Presidency of Supervision of Groups and Financial Intermediaries B:
VPSupervisionGIFB@cnbv.gob.mx

Vice Presidency of Supervision of Preventive Processes:
General Directorates of Prevention of Operations with Resources of Illicit Origin A and B prevencion.lavado@cnbv.gob.mx

General Directorate of Attention to Authorities comunicacionAA@cnbv.gob.mx

Technical Vice Presidency:
VPTecnica@cnbv.gob.mx

Vice Presidency of Normativity
General Directorate of Special Authorizations autorizacionfintech@cnbv.gob.mx

autespecializadas@cnbv.gob.mx

To receive notifications related to judicial processes whose processing is urgent and in which the Commission is a party, they must be made through the following email address:
contencioso@cnbv.gob.mx

For the aforementioned, the single reception and delivery window for documentation of the Official Records Office of the Commission shall remain closed; therefore, physical documentation will not be received during the validity of this Agreement.

The National Banking and Securities Commission may enable additional email addresses for the receipt of information, which it will make known through its official Internet page: https://www.gob.mx/cnbv. Likewise, through said Internet page, it will notify the general public of the date of opening of the single reception and delivery window for documentation of the Official Records Office, as well as through a notice posted at the site where the aforementioned window is located in this Commission.

The administrative units that receive information through the email addresses enabled for such purposes must acknowledge receipt to the petitioner via the same channel, no later than within two business days following the date of its receipt, assigning a file number for identification and tracking.

Requests and procedures submitted through these email addresses must contain the express declaration of the applicant accepting notification by this electronic means of the resolution taken by the Commission regarding the matter, which shall be recorded in a digitized official document issued by the authorized public servant(s) and sent to the sender's email address or that specified for such purposes in said request or procedure by the applicant.

The resolution granted by the National Banking and Securities Commission to requests and notified to applicants through the sender's email address or that designated for such purposes in their reference document, shall be deemed notified and shall have full legal effect.

Resolutions on requests for authorization or approval that have entered the National Banking and Securities Commission prior to the publication of this Agreement and on which this Commission has not yet ruled, may be notified to the applicant by means of the email address that the Vice Presidency responsible for their supervision has for such purposes, according to the Financial Entity or persons involved.

The recipient of the notification must confirm receipt of the email containing the respective resolution within two business days following, counted from the day the email was received.

THIRD. Resolutions and information requests that the National Banking and Securities Commission formulates, in the exercise of the powers granted by the various financial laws and general provisions emanating from them, to financial entities and persons subject to its supervision, may be notified and formulated via email, obtaining the corresponding receipt acknowledgment from the recipient.

(1) FOURTH. In order to contribute to social distancing to avoid person-to-person contagion and the spread of COVID-19, the procedures for inspection visits ordered by the National Banking and Securities Commission, including observations and corrective measures derived from such visits, shall remain suspended; without prejudice to the President of the Commission ordering the carrying out of those deemed necessary due to the particular situation of the financial entity or persons subject to the Commission's supervision.

FIFTH. For the purposes of the first paragraph of the SECOND of the CNBV Agreement, published by this financial authority in the Official Gazette of the Federation in its evening edition of March 26, 2020, the physical delivery of information or reports that have been submitted to the Commission under said premise shall not be necessary, unless the corresponding Vice Presidency explicitly requires it from the financial entity or person subject to the Commission's supervision.

SIXTH. The administrative measures contained in this Agreement may be modified in response to recommendations from health authorities for the gradual, cautious, and orderly opening of activities related to the Federal Public Administration, as well as those established for Mexico City according to the color of the traffic light that evaluates the epidemiological risk related to the reopening of activities in that locality.

SEVENTH. This Agreement and the acts derived from it do not constitute a temporary or definitive limitation of the attributes and powers granted to the Commission by law, nor shall they generate greater rights or benefits for financial entities and persons subject to the Commission's supervision than those expressly and by virtue of the contingency defined by the Commission itself, which may request information at any time it requires and instruct what is appropriate in the exercise of its powers.

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

FIRST. Publish in the Official Gazette of the Federation.

SECOND. The administrative measures contained in this Agreement shall take effect from July 16, 2020, and shall remain in force until the President of the National Banking and Securities Commission suspends their application through the publication of the respective Agreement.

TRANSITORIES
(Agreement modifying the Various Agreement establishing administrative measures for the continuity of activities of the National Banking and Securities Commission in the attention of matters processed before it, during the health contingency caused by COVID-19, published on July 15, 2020, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 23, 2020)

FIRST. Publish in the Official Gazette of the Federation.

SECOND. This agreement shall enter into force on the same day of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation.

CONSIDERATIONS
(Agreement published on November 23, 2020)

That on March 26, 2020, the Agreement establishing temporary and extraordinary measures and suspending certain deadlines for the attention of financial entities and persons subject to the supervision of the National Banking and Securities Commission, due to the coronavirus named COVID-19 (CNBV Agreement), was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), through which, among other things, deadlines regarding hearings, procedures, and processes that are ongoing, being carried out, or should be carried out before the Commission from March 23 to April 19, 2020, are suspended, empowering the President of the National Banking and Securities Commission (Commission) to modify or temporarily invalidate those legal provisions issued for Financial Entities and persons subject to the supervision of the Commission itself, that are necessary to provide the administrative facilities required, without prejudice to the participation that, if applicable, corresponds to other financial authorities;

That through agreements published in the DOF on April 17 and 28, May 29, and June 29, all of 2020, the term of suspension of deadlines referred to in the CNBV Agreement was extended to April 30, May 30, June 30, and July 15, 2020, respectively, maintaining the effects of the other provisions provided in the CNBV Agreement. Additionally, in the publication of April 17, 2020, the Board of Directors of the National Banking and Securities Commission extended for as long as necessary to face the health contingency and its effects or until such time as said Board of Directors determines, the powers of the President of the National Banking and Securities Commission provided in the CNBV Agreement, as well as to extend the term of the period in which deadlines are suspended for as long as necessary to face the health contingency and its effects;

That on May 14, 2020, the Ministry of Health published in the DOF the Agreement establishing a strategy for the reopening of social, educational, and economic activities, as well as a regional traffic light system to evaluate weekly the epidemiological risk related to the reopening of activities in each federal entity, as well as extraordinary actions, modified through a similar publication in the same medium of dissemination on May 15, 2020, which aims to establish a strategy for the reopening of social, educational, and economic activities, as well as a regional traffic light system to evaluate weekly the epidemiological risk related to the reopening of activities in each federal entity; to the effect that the return of society to its general activities takes place in a reliable environment that reduces, to the greatest extent possible, the risks caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, and in this way continue with its eradication, to pave the way for prompt economic recovery;

That in Mexico City, where the Commission's headquarters is located, on May 20, 2020, the Head of Government announced the Gradual Plan towards the new normality in Mexico City, which establishes the implementation of a staggered return that prioritizes the right to health to contain the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and avoid new outbreaks of contagion, with the purpose of generating a healthy life and coexistence based on a Daily Epidemiological Traffic Light with four colors: red, orange, yellow, and green, for the staggered reopening of various labor, government, education, public spaces, and transportation activities, the situation of vulnerable persons, epidemiological follow-up, and COVID-19 monitoring, therefore, considering this, the Government of Mexico City has declared that the City continues with an orange traffic light;

That on July 15, 2020, the Commission published in the DOF the Agreement establishing administrative measures for the continuity of activities of the National Banking and Securities Commission in the attention of matters processed before it, during the health contingency caused by COVID-19 (Reactivation Agreement), by virtue of which the computation of deadlines resumes,

both those provided for by natural days or periods and those provided for in business days indicated in the applicable regulations, regarding, in general, the procedures and processes initiated before the National Banking and Securities Commission, except for the exceptions contained in said Agreement;

That the FIRST, fraction III of the Agreement published on July 15, 2020, and referred to in the preceding paragraph, establishes that the National Banking and Securities Commission will specifically indicate the resumption of the computation of deadlines, regarding the matters mentioned in said fraction III, from the date the agreement establishing such is published;

That, in congruence with the aforementioned Agreements and the sanitary measures still implemented in Mexico City regarding COVID-19, it is necessary to determine the dates on which deadlines will resume that allow the continuity of procedures for the renewal of registration in the Registry of Currency Exchanges and Money Transmitters; start of operations of new entities; and the update of authorization to act as a stock exchange operator or attorney-in-fact, therefore it has resolved to issue the following:

REFERENCES

1. Reformed by Agreement published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 23, 2020.