The Superintendency of Companies extends anti-money laundering control to courier and armored transport services

The Superintendency of Companies, Securities, and Insurance (SCVS) replaced the control standards for the management of money laundering risk applied to the corporate sector, through Resolution No. SCVS-INC-DNCDN-2026-0014. The instrument was signed on October 22, 2026, by the superintendent Luis Cabezas-Klaere and was published in the Fifth Supplement of Official Registry No. 398, on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, with a length of 48 pages. The reform expands the universe of obliged entities—including courier services and vehicle armoring—and establishes the procedure to deactivate the report registration code before the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit (UAFE).

The resolution replaces Chapter II of Title XVI, Book I, of the Codification of the Standards of the Superintendency of Companies, Securities, and Insurance, and repeals resolution SCVS-INC-DNCDN-2025-0004, dated June 13, 2025. It is based on articles 28, 65, and 66 of the Organic Law for the Prevention, Detection, and Combat of the Crime of Money Laundering and the Financing of Other Crimes, published in the Fourth Supplement of Official Registry No. 610 on July 29, 2024, and in effect since July 29, 2025, as well as articles 28 and 47 of its General Regulation. The standard enters into force upon its publication, without prejudice to its dissemination in the electronic Corporate Gazette.

New obliged entities: courier and vehicle armoring

Article 2 establishes two blocks of recipients. The first gathers the obliged entities already provided for in the Law; the second incorporates those added by resolution of the UAFE, which are those that expand the control perimeter:

• Real estate promotion, investment, and brokerage.
• Construction.
• Marketing of vehicles, machinery, boats, ships, and aircraft, and armoring of assets.
• Marketing of precious metals or precious stones.
• Accounting or legal services in specific transactions for clients.
• Corporate service providers and trusts.
• Legal entities that transfer money, securities, or remittances, nationally or internationally.
• Factoring and financial leasing services.
• National and international transport of parcels, postal packages, mail, and parallel mail (courier).
• Vehicle armoring through the installation of materials against ballistic, chemical, and other attacks, including their maintenance and repair.

The procedure to deactivate the report before the UAFE

Article 3 regulates the request for a ruling to cease the execution of an economic activity subject to reporting. The legal representative must submit a reasoned request, online or in physical form, identifying the corporate act registered in the Mercantile Registry or the Registry of Companies that accredits the change of activity. The National Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering (DNPLA) verifies that the corporate purpose delimits real, clear, and precise activities, and that the institutional base has the activity and CIIU code updated according to the RUC.

The DNPLA resolves within fifteen days and, if it formulates observations, grants up to ten days for responses. The ruling does not exempt the entity from non-compliances recorded during the period in which the company acted as an obligated entity.

Compliance officers, manuals, and deadlines

The general meeting or assembly appoints the primary and alternate compliance officer for five years, re-electable for an equal period, and must previously approve the submission of suspicious transactions to the UAFE, within a term of five days from the time they are known. The adaptation deadlines are staggered:

• Six months from publication to update the manual and the prevention system, with approval from the general meeting.
• Three months for companies that acquire the status of obligated entities after the effective date.
• Ninety non-extendable days for the sector summoned by the UAFE via circular letter.

Non-compliance will be noted as an observation in the certificate of compliance with obligations (CCO), without prejudice to the sanctioning procedure. Preventive information must be kept for ten years, and the external compliance audit report must be submitted by May 30 of each year.

The reform also applies to already qualified compliance officers: qualifications prior to July 18, 2022, are rendered null and void; therefore, those exercising these functions must complete the online process before the SCVS. For courier companies, armored transport, and other listed activities, compliance ceases to be a recommendation of best practices and becomes a supervised obligation with fixed deadlines and registry consequences.

Source: Official Registry, Fifth Supplement No. 398, Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Section I (official reference: Resolution No. SCVS-INC-DNCDN-2026-0014).