Published 13 August 2009
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The finance committee of El Salvador's congress has received a draft bill, proposing reform of the country's financial regulators. The proposal, which was one of President Mauricio Funes' pledges when he ran for office earlier in the year, would see the country's three superintendencies - of finance, pensions, and securities - incorporated into a single regulatory body.
Roxana Romero de Gamero, a partner with Romero Pineda & Asociados, says "With this integration, the supervision of each of the entities will improve remarkably, since there will be one superintendent in charge of all three institutions, allowing the concentration and supervision of all procedures and their liability to tax."
"In addition, the execution of supervising activities that converge for the institutions in some procedures will be faster, allowing clients to comply with their deadlines on time," she says. The reorganisation is also one of the conditions of a US$800 million IMF loan to El Salvador. The loan is a stand-by arrangement designed to support the country's recovery from the global economic crisis, though the country does not intend to draw on the funds. Romero says, "Since it will expedite institutional procedures and standardise criteria, favouring all users of the three superintendencies, our clients will surely benefit from having a sole regulatory structure."
