Agreement No. 10-2002 of October 2, 2002

Republic of Panama
Banking Superintendence
AGREEMENT No. 10-2002
(October 2, 2002)
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In exercise of its legal powers; and
CONSIDERING
That in accordance with Number 2 of Article 5 of Law Decree 9 of February 26, 1998, it is the function of this Banking Superintendence to strengthen and foster the conditions conducive to the development of Panama as an International Financial Center; That in accordance with Number 7 of Article 16 of Law Decree No. 9 of February 26, 1998, it corresponds to the Board of Directors of the Banking Superintendence to establish, within the administrative scope, the interpretation and scope of legal or regulatory provisions in banking matters; That in accordance with Article 140 of Law Decree No. 9 of February 26, 1998, it is within the authority of the Superintendence to develop, establish the meaning, scope, and interpretation of norms on Protection of Users of Banking Services; That by means of Resolution No. 19-2002 of August 29, 2002, Resolution No. 2 of March 6, 2001, was declared void in all its parts, maintaining the functions inherent to the Department of Protection of Users of Banking Services; That by means of Agreement 6-2001 of December 3, 2001, measures were adopted to determine the competence of the Protection of Users of Banking Services, as well as the procedure for filing complaints or reports before the Department of Protection of Users of Banking Services; and That, in working sessions of this Board of Directors with the Superintendent of Banks, the need and convenience of modifying the guidelines and criteria established regarding the procedure for filing complaints or reports by Users of Banking Services has been made evident. AGREES:
ARTICLE 1: COMPETENCE. The Banking Superintendence will attend to complaints, individual or collective, filed by users of banking services regarding irregularities in the provision of banking services received from Banks, in accordance with what is established in Title V – Protection of Users of Banking Services, of Law Decree No. 9 of February 26, 1998, as well as the reports that may be filed regarding alleged non-compliance with the provisions contained in said Law Decree.
ARTICLE 2: DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this Agreement, the following shall be understood:
Report: The act by which the Banking Superintendence is informed, in writing or verbally, of a fact contrary to the laws, with the object that it proceeds to investigate and sanction, if appropriate.
Complaint: A grievance filed before the Banking Superintendence regarding a matter in which a particular interest of the complainant or a number of persons is affected.
ARTICLE 3: FORM OF FILING A COMPLAINT AND/OR REPORT. Complaints and/or reports shall be filed personally, verbally or in writing, with the Banking Superintendence.
ARTICLE 4: RECORDING OF THE ACT. Any complaint and/or report filed verbally shall entail the recording of an Act, in which the following must be recorded:
1. General information of the complainant and/or reporter;
2. Designation of the Bank;
3. Details of the facts on which the complaint and/or report is based;
4. Any other requirement determined by the Banking Superintendence.
In all cases, the complainant and/or reporter must present a photocopy of their personal identity card and of the documents they have available related to the facts on which the complaint and/or report is based.
ARTICLE 5: SELF-REPRESENTATION. Users and Banks may act in the process on their own behalf, so it is not necessary to designate a lawyer.
ARTICLE 6: REPRESENTATION BY A THIRD PARTY OR LAWYER. In the event that any of the parties is represented by a third party or a lawyer, they must present a power of attorney duly granted before a notary. Such attorney-in-fact or third party must relate and substantiate the claim of their principal and the facts on which it is based.
ARTICLE 7: ACCEPTANCE OF THE COMPLAINT AND/OR REPORT. Once the complaint and/or report is filed, the Banking Superintendence will review the substantiation of the facts and the documentation presented, and if everything is in due form, it will accept the complaint and/or report.
The Superintendence will determine the procedure to be followed in cases of reports, in order to carry out the pertinent investigations.
ARTICLE 8: REJECTION, CORRECTION, AND DECLINATION OF COMPETENCE. In cases where the substantiation of the facts and the documentation presented are not in due form, the Banking Superintendence will order the corresponding correction.
When claims that are not within the competence of the Banking Superintendence are raised, the complaint and/or report will be rejected; and in the event that it corresponds to another institution or instance to hear it, the Banking Superintendence will decline the knowledge of the claim to said institution or instance.
ARTICLE 9: FILE OF THE COMPLAINT AND/OR REPORT. Any complaint and/or report admitted by the Banking Superintendence will give rise to the formation of a file duly numbered and paginated.
ARTICLE 10: ACCESS TO THE FILES. The files may only be examined by the parties, their attorneys, or third parties, duly accredited, who demonstrate having an interest or that they may be affected in said process.
ARTICLE 11: EXCLUSION FROM THE FILE. The parties may not remove any document from the file, unless the exclusion of the same is requested, for which they must comply with the following requirements:
1. Request it in writing by the interested party;
2. Be authorized by the Banking Superintendence;
3. The document to be excluded must be replaced by a photocopy, duly verified and authenticated.
ARTICLE 12: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION TO THE BANKING ENTITY AS A RESULT OF THE COMPLAINT. The Banking Superintendence will request, from the banking entity against which a complaint has been received, a report, which must be presented within a term not exceeding ten (10) business days, counted from the notification of the request for information. This term may be extendable, at the request of the Bank, for an additional term of ten (10) business days, for justified cause to the judgment of the Superintendence.
ARTICLE 13: DISPOSITION OF THE BANK'S INFORMATION. Once the report referred to in the previous Article has been received from the Bank, it will be made available to the user. If the user disagrees with the Bank's response, they will have a term of ten (10) business days to express it, extendable, at the request of the party, for an additional term of ten (10) business days, for justified cause to the judgment of the Superintendence; otherwise, the complaint process will be deemed concluded and the respective file will be ordered to be archived.
ARTICLE 14: CONCILIATION ACT. In cases where the user disagrees with the information received from the Bank, and has expressed so within the stipulated time, the Banking Superintendence will convene the parties in order to carry out the celebration of a Conciliation Act between the user and the banking entity.
The celebration of the Conciliation Act will be notified to the parties at the address recorded in the file within a term not less than five (5) business days in advance, unless the parties agree to celebrate the Conciliation Act on a specific date in coordination with the Superintendence. When, in this regard, the parties agree on an earlier date to celebrate the Conciliation Act, they must notify it previously in writing to the Superintendence.
ARTICLE 15: CELEBRATION OF THE CONCILIATION ACT. The parties are obligated to appear at the Banking Superintendence on the day and hour fixed to carry out the Conciliation Act.
The Conciliation Act will be celebrated with both parties on the scheduled date and time. In the event that one of the parties cannot attend on the cited date, they will justify their absence, notifying it at least two (2) business days before the date of the Conciliation Act, so that a second summons is scheduled and notified.
ARTICLE 16: SECOND SUMMONS FOR THE CONCILIATION ACT. If on the date of the second summons for the celebration of the Conciliation Act the banking entity that was absent from the first summons does not appear, it will be considered that it has failed in its obligation to appear at the Conciliation Act. The foregoing does not imply the termination of the process and the Banking Superintendence will set a new date for the celebration of the Conciliation Act.
In the event that it is the user who for the second time does not attend the celebration of the Conciliation Act, it will be estimated as a withdrawal of the complaint, so the Conciliation management will be deemed terminated, ordering the closure of the complaint and the archiving of the file.
ARTICLE 17: DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCILIATION ACT. The Conciliation Act will be developed orally. The facilitator will inform the parties what the Law provides in this regard and will attempt to conciliate them, in order to promote a friendly settlement between them.
In the Conciliation Act, the parties must expose their arguments, charges, and defenses in a precise, concise, and truthful manner, for which they will have a period not less than five (5) minutes nor greater than twenty (20) minutes.
ARTICLE 18: CONDUCT DURING THE CONCILIATION ACT. In the development of the Conciliation, the parties must behave with dignity, probity, decorum, morality, and respect, otherwise the Superintendence may:
1. Suspend and cancel the Conciliation Act, concluding the complaint, if the offense is committed by the complainant;
2. Issue a written reprimand, if the offense is committed by the representative of the banking institution.
ARTICLE 19: CLOSURE OF THE CONCILIATION ACT. Once the Conciliation Act is finished, an Act will be drawn up where the following will be recorded:
1. The parties that intervened, User-Bank;
2. Facts on which the claim was based;
3. Facts on which the banking entity bases its defense;
4. Development of the Conciliation Act;
5. Warning that the parties may make use of the right that other laws confer on them to go to the Courts, in the event that they do not reach a satisfactory agreement;
6. Signature of the parties that intervened in the Conciliation Act, as proof of their participation and formal notification.
ARTICLE 20: OF THE MANAGERIAL ACTIONS. All actions carried out in the development of a claim, complaint, and/or report will be made in writing, except for the Conciliation Act.
ARTICLE 21: SANCTIONS. If at any stage of a claim, complaint, and/or report the Banking Superintendence determines that the Bank has infringed provisions of Law Decree No. 9 of 1998 and its complementary norms, the corresponding sanctions will be applied based on what is provided in Article 137 of Law Decree No. 9 of 1998.
ARTICLE 22: CLOSURE OF THE COMPLAINT. In accordance with what is established in this Agreement, complaints will be deemed concluded and the file will be ordered to be archived when:
1. The user agrees with the information supplied by the Bank.
2. The user does not appear at the second summons, having been absent from the first.
3. The user behaves inappropriately during the Conciliation Act.
4. The user and the banking entity reach a mutual agreement in the development of the complaint process.
5. Upon conclusion of the Conciliation Act.
Once the complaint procedure is concluded, the respective file will be ordered to be archived.
ARTICLE 23: STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR FILING A CLAIM, COMPLAINT, AND/OR REPORT: The time to present any complaint and/or report before the Banking Superintendence prescribes in one (1) year. This term will begin to run from the date on which the fact that originates the claim occurred.
ARTICLE 24: This Agreement substitutes in all its parts Agreement 6-2001 of December 3, 2001.
ARTICLE 25: VALIDITY. This Agreement will begin to govern from its promulgation.
Given in the city of Panama, on the two (2) days of the month of October of two thousand two (2002).
PUBLISH AND COMPLY.
THE PRESIDENT THE SECRETARY
Jorge W. Altamirano-Duque M. Joseph Fidanque, Jr.