Central Bank of Bolivia

Board of Directors

BOARD RESOLUTION NO. 139/2021

SUBJECT: MONETARY OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT – APPROVAL OF THE REGULATION FOR THE DIRECT SALE OF SECURITIES TO NATURAL PERSONS THROUGH ELECTRONIC MEANS

VISTOS:

• The Political Constitution of the State, of February 7, 2009.
• Law No. 1670 of October 31, 1995, of the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB).
• Law No. 1834 of March 31, 1998, on the Securities Market.
• Law No. 164 of August 8, 2011, General Law of Telecommunications, Information and Communication Technologies.
• Law No. 393 of August 21, 2013, on Financial Services.
• The Statute of the BCB, approved by Board Resolution No. 128/2005 of October 21, 2005, and its amendments.
• The Open Market Operations (OMA) Regulation, approved by Board Resolution No. 149/2015 of August 25, 2015, and its amendments.
• Report BCB-GOM-SOMA-INF-2021-103 of November 24, 2021, from the Monetary Operations Management.
• Report BCB-GAL-SANO-DLBCI-INF-2021-228 of November 24, 2021, from the Legal Affairs Management.

CONSIDERING:

• That the Political Constitution of the State in Article 326 establishes that the State, through the Executive Branch, will determine the objectives of the country's monetary and exchange rate policy, in coordination with the BCB.
• That Article 327 determines that the BCB is a public law institution, with legal personality and its own assets. Within the framework of the State's economic policy, it is the function of the BCB to maintain the stability of the internal purchasing power of the currency, to contribute to economic and social development.
• That in its Article 328, it establishes that the attributions of the BCB, in coordination with the economic policy determined by the Executive Branch, in addition to those indicated by law, are: 1. Determine and execute monetary policy, 2. Execute exchange rate policy, 3. Regulate the payment system, 4. Authorize the issuance of currency, and 5. Administer international reserves.
• That Article 6 of Law No. 1670 empowers the BCB to execute monetary policy and regulate the quantity of money and the volume of credit according to its monetary program, being able to emit, place, and acquire securities and carry out other open market operations for this purpose.
• That Article 44 determines that the highest authority of the BCB is its Board of Directors, which is responsible for defining its policies, specialized regulations of general application, and internal rules; as well as establishing administrative, operational, and financial strategies of the BCB, approving their respective short and medium-term programs.
• That in virtue of the attributions conferred by subsections a), d) and o) of Article 54 of Law No. 1670 and items 1), 4) and 29) of Article 11 of the BCB Statute, the BCB Board of Directors is empowered to issue norms and adopt general decisions so that the BCB fulfills the functions, competencies, and powers assigned by Law, as well as to issue norms for the open market operations carried out by the BCB and approve the Regulations of the BCB, by two-thirds of the votes of all its members.
• That Article 7 of Law No. 1834 establishes that both the issuances of Securities of the BCB, as well as of the General Treasury of the Nation (TGN), are exempt from the authorization of public offering, being sufficient their own legal norms, which back their issuance and public offering.
• That in Article 78 of Law No. 164, General Law of Telecommunications, Information and Communication Technologies, it is determined that the following have legal and evidentiary validity: 1) The legal act or business carried out by a natural or legal person in a digital document and approved by the parties through digital signature, celebrated through electronic means or other of greater technological advancement, 2) The electronic data message, and 3) The digital signature.
• That, the Law No. 393 on Financial Services, in paragraph III of Article 5, provides that the BCB will be governed by its own provisions.
• That the BCB Statute, in items 1), 4) and 29) of Article 11, determines as attributions of the Board of Directors, to approve general decisions and issue the norms that are necessary for the BCB to fulfill the functions, competencies, and powers assigned to it by Law; to define the policies of the BCB, specialized regulations of general application, and internal rules; in addition to approving, modifying, and interpreting the Statute and Regulations of the BCB, by two-thirds of the votes of all its members, without the need for an additional administrative act.
• That Article 26 establishes that the Board of Directors pronounces on matters within its competence through resolutions.
• That Article 4 of the OMA Regulation indicates that the BCB Board of Directors defines monetary policies in general and open market operations policies in particular. Likewise, in Article 13, the operational mechanisms authorized by the BCB Board of Directors are established, and in Article 16, the requirements to participate in the sales mechanisms to natural persons.
• That Report BCB-GOM-SOMA-INF-2021-103 from the Monetary Operations Management recommends to the BCB Board of Directors to approve a regulation that establishes the conditions for the direct sale of securities to natural persons through electronic means.
• That Report BCB-GAL-SANO-DLBCI-INF-2021-228 from the Legal Affairs Management concludes that the proposal for the “Regulation for Direct Sale to Natural Persons through Electronic Means”, proposed by the GOM, does not contravene the current legal framework, therefore it is legally procedent, being the competence of the BCB Board of Directors its approval by two-thirds of votes, in accordance with what is established in subsection o) of Article 54 of Law No. 1670 of the BCB and in item 29 of Article 11 of the Statute of the Issuing Entity.

THEREFORE,

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF BOLIVIA

RESOLVES:

Article 1.- Approve the Regulation for the Direct Sale of Securities to Natural Persons through Electronic Means, in its three (3) chapters and eight (8) articles, which as an annex forms part of this Resolution.

Article 2.- The Regulation for the Direct Sale of Securities to Natural Persons through Electronic Means will enter into force from the approval of this Resolution.

Article 3.- The Presidency and the General Management are charged with the execution and compliance of this Resolution.

La Paz, November 25, 2021

Roger Edwin Rojas Ulo PRESIDENT a.i.

Oscar Ferrufino Morro VICEPRESIDENT a.i.

Gabriel Herbas Camacho DIRECTOR a.i.

Gumerindo Hector Pino Cuzman DIRECTOR a.i.

Diego Alejandro Pérez Cueto Eulert DIRECTOR a.i.

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REGULATION FOR THE DIRECT SALE OF SECURITIES TO NATURAL PERSONS THROUGH ELECTRONIC MEANS

CHAPTER I

Generalities

Article 1. (Object).- This Regulation aims to establish the conditions for the direct sale of securities to natural persons through electronic means implemented by the BCB.

Article 2. (Definition).- The direct sale of securities to natural persons through electronic means is a mechanism by which natural persons can acquire BCB securities remotely through a web-based sales system provided by the BCB for this purpose.

Article 3. (Access Restrictions to the Mechanism).- Access to this mechanism, by virtue of its purpose, is restricted only to natural persons who acquire securities for their own account and can transfer resources in favor of the BCB through the channels established by the BCB in the web-based sales system referred to in Article 2.

CHAPTER II

Conditions for Direct Sale of Securities to Natural Persons through Electronic Means

Article 4. (Securities Offered).- The securities offered through this mechanism will be defined by the Open Market Operations Committee of the BCB.

Article 5. (Conditions).- The conditions regarding terms, interest rates, minimum and maximum sale amounts, and others inherent to the securities will be those determined by the Open Market Operations Committee.

Article 6. (Operational Procedures).- The operational procedures for placement, transfer, early redemption, and maturity of the securities will be specified in an Operational Guide approved by the General Management.

Article 7. (Other Operational Aspects).- The Open Market Operations Committee of the BCB may define and implement any operational aspect not foreseen in this Regulation.

CHAPTER III

Registration of Securities Issuance

Article 8. (Issuance Registration).- The securities issued by the BCB for direct sale to natural persons through electronic means will be represented by book entries and must be registered with the Securities Depository Entity through the corresponding legal documents or instruments and in accordance with the norms, procedures, characteristics, and conditions of securities issuance specific to the BCB.