Requirements and regulations.

• All foreign exchange operations for buying and selling currency must be carried out through an exchange declaration, which contains the identification of the declarant, of the beneficiary of the operation and the other details set by Banco de la República.
• Deposits or any other financial operation in foreign currency, and in general any contract or agreement in foreign currency between residents, are not authorized.
• The currency exchange professional must carry out a due diligence process on its clients to know and verify the identity of both the client and the final beneficiary of the operation.
• Currency purchases will be paid in cash when the amount is up to USD 9,999 or its equivalent in other currencies.
• The currency exchange professional must require the original identity document to be shown, and must request a copy of it for currency purchases or sales equal to or greater than USD 1,000 or its equivalent in other currencies.

PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons) are individuals who hold or have held high-profile public positions, both nationally and internationally. This includes, for example, heads of state, ministers, legislators, supreme court judges, senior military officials and executives of state-owned companies. Because of their positions of power and influence, PEPs are considered higher risk in the context of money laundering and corruption, as they may be more vulnerable to bribery or to taking part in illicit activities.

Financial institutions and other entities subject to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations must apply enhanced due diligence when dealing with PEPs, to reduce the risk of being used as vehicles for illicit activities.

SARLAFT-FPADM is a regulatory framework in Colombia designed to fight Money Laundering (LA), Terrorist Financing (FT) and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (FPADM). Its goal is to set up mechanisms and controls so that companies prevent, detect and manage the risks linked to these illicit activities.

Implementing SARLAFT-FPADM reduces legal and reputational risks, and it also lowers exposure to sanctions and financial losses caused by fraudulent activities or illicit financing.

• Operations exceeding USD 10,000 or its equivalent in other currencies must be subject to enhanced due diligence, establishing the origin of the funds used for the operation and their destination.
• Knowing the client includes their economic activity, financial statements and any other documents that clarify their activity.
• The currency exchange professional's LA/FT-FPADM Risk Management System must include reinforced, enhanced and effective measures, proportional to the risks involved. The following must be assessed:
  • Review of the client's background.
  • Obtaining additional documented information about the client.
  • Updating information more systematically.
  • Obtaining information on the origin of the funds and the destination of the transaction.

The currency exchange professional must keep the supporting documentation obtained when applying these enhanced, reinforced, effective and risk-proportional measures, for whenever the supervisory authority requests it.

Unusual high-value transactions are those that exceed, in a single operation or in the sum of operations with the same client on the same day or week, ten thousand US dollars (USD 10,000) in cash, or its equivalent in other currencies.

To count the weekly period, the first day is the date of the first currency purchase or sale carried out.