Superintendency of Mercantile Obligations publishes guidelines against money laundering

The Superintendency of Mercantile Obligations, a dependency of the Ministry of Economy, published the General Guidelines for Vigilance, Supervision, and Inspection for the Prevention of Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The instrument appears in the Official Documents Section of the Official Gazette corresponding to Volume No. 452, Number 181, from Wednesday, September 30, 2026, on pages 178 to 208.

The Official Gazette is the official publication medium of the Salvadoran State and, in this issue, edited by the National Printing Office with a circulation of 300 copies and under the direction of Oswaldo Stanley Morales Hidalgo, the summary reserves the final block of the Official Documents Section for the guidelines, headed by the Ministry of Economy and its Superintendency of Mercantile Obligations. The summary records only the full title of the instrument and its length: 31 pages, from 178 to 208.

The publication occurs in a single issue that gathers legislative decrees, labor reports, and tariff acts, which places the guidelines within the ordinary regulatory activity of the economic sector.

A 31-page instrument in the Official Documents Section

The title of the document delimits its scope: vigilance, supervision, and inspection oriented toward the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This is the matter that the Economy sector supervises over the mercantile and non-banking financial sector.

• Issuing body: Superintendency of Mercantile Obligations, of the Ministry of Economy.
• Official designation: General Guidelines for Vigilance, Supervision, and Inspection for the Prevention of Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
• Location: Official Documents Section, pages 178 to 208.
• Publication: Official Gazette, Volume No. 452, Number 181, September 30, 2026.

The immediate precedent for public accountants

Twelve days prior, the Official Gazette of September 18, 2026, announced Resolution 388 of the Supervisory Council of the Public Accounting and Auditing Profession, which ordered the public disclosure of the Instructions for the Prevention of Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction for Public Accounting Professionals, on pages 30 and 31 of that issue.

Both instruments share the same subject matter and the same preventive approach, but they correspond to different bodies: the council that regulates the practice of public accounting and the superintendency that oversees entities in the mercantile sector. The sequence suggests a staggered rollout of anti-money laundering regulations across the various guilds and obligated activities.

The rest of the issue: decrees, reports, and tariffs

The same issue of the Diario Oficial includes, under the Legislative Branch, Decree No. 675, regarding tax exemptions in favor of the Asociación Lumen Dos Mil de El Salvador; Decree No. 676, containing special and transitory provisions for the exemption of levies on humanitarian aid funds for former employees of Impression Apparel Group, Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable; Decree No. 677, which authorizes the Ministry of Finance to sign a loan agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); and Decree No. 679, a special transitory law for the participation of the Armed Forces of El Salvador in the gang suppression force in Haiti.

Under the Executive Branch are Agreement No. 252, which acknowledges receipt of the 2025 annual report of the Superintendency of the Financial System, and Agreements Nos. 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, and 266, containing the labor reports of various ministries for the 2025-2026 period. The Ministry of Economy adds Agreements Nos. 600 and 757, which partially modify lists of tariff headings not necessary for the authorized activity of two companies, and Agreement No. 756, which rectifies a recital in favor of FFI Reptile Division, Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable.

The end of the issue is occupied by official and paid notices—inheritances, property titles, supplementary titles, corporate calls, and replacement of certificates—as well as the final judgment of presumed death issued by the Civil Court of the Mejicanos District.

The relevance of the publication is direct for banks, businesses, professionals, and other entities covered by anti-money laundering regulations: the guidelines establish the framework through which the Superintendency of Mercantile Obligations will monitor, supervise, and audit compliance with preventive controls, and their entry into the Diario Oficial makes them a mandatory reference for the review of internal policies, risk matrices, and operation reporting mechanisms.

Source: Diario Oficial, Volume No. 452, Number 181, September 30, 2026, Official Documents Section, pp. 178-208 (official reference: selection 31858).