The Paraguayan government has begun coordinating a working group to streamline the process of opening bank accounts for foreign investors, following repeated complaints about state bureaucracy that is reportedly discouraging capital inflows into the country. The initiative is led by Deputy Minister of Industry Javier Viveros and brings together representatives from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Seprelad, SUACE, Asoban, the Superintendency of Banks, and the Superintendency of Risks.
Last Friday, participants analyzed measures to streamline and expedite the account-opening process for foreign investors without neglecting anti-money laundering preventive controls. It was agreed that a concrete procedural proposal will be drafted within a maximum of 60 days.
The complaints gained visibility during a recent business forum organized by the Club de Ejecutivos, when Spanish businesswoman Marta Vara, director of 5 Flags Capital, publicly questioned the difficulties faced by investors seeking to establish themselves in the country. "When the investor arrives, they have two major enemies: the Central Bank of Paraguay and Seprelad. We are creating companies and they are giving us a lot of trouble opening the account, making the international money transfer. Even with full traceability, the timelines are extremely long," she said, addressing Economy Minister Óscar Lovera, who was also attending the event.
Vara also complained that current regulations do not allow companies to be issued cards. "These are small things we are encountering that make it very difficult for these investors to actually bring money here. It is a fairly serious issue that needs to be worked on with the banks, the BCP, and Seprelad, because they keep passing the ball to each other and offer no solution. What they are creating is a bottleneck that is causing the loss of a great deal of international investment," she lamented.
After the event, the government convened the first working group with the goal of charting a path to unblock the bureaucracy surrounding account opening, a basic requirement for any company wishing to set up operations in the country. Participants agreed on the need to simplify processes through greater coordination among the institutions involved, allowing information sharing and avoiding the need for investors to repeatedly submit the same documentation to different agencies.
Deputy Minister Javier Viveros explained that the work is initially focused on foreigners who come to the country to invest and apply for the Investor Pass, a tool created to facilitate their establishment and operations in Paraguay. For her part, Asoban President Liz Cramer stated that the initiative is part of a dialogue process between public institutions and the financial system to address one of the challenges driven by the growing influx of foreign investors.
"We are working to facilitate these processes, but always within the legal and regulatory framework. The financial system has an interest in supporting the country's growth and the arrival of new investors while maintaining the compliance standards that regulation demands," Cramer said.