A late reform?

Section XII Ter of Article Three of the Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Operations with Illicit Proceeds incorporates a new definition of risk.

"This is the likelihood that vulnerable operations could be used to carry out acts or operations that could potentially escalate the crimes of operations with illicit proceeds, crimes related to these proceeds, and crimes related to the financial structures of criminal organizations, as well as prevent the use of these proceeds for their financing."

Yesterday, at 2:55 p.m., the Chamber of Deputies received the draft decree for the reform, approved by the Senate of the Republic. The regulations were amended to strengthen institutional mechanisms to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, ensure the stability of the financial system, and the health of the national economy.

A necessary reinforcement, following the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s six-year-old observations regarding deficiencies in the implementation of preventive and supervisory measures.

As soon as the reforms come into effect, the Ministry of Finance must issue regulations to the law to—among other things—establish an electronic system for registering and providing records to those engaged in vulnerable activities.

The delay in clearing the legislative agenda has slowed the adaptation of the so-called Anti-Money Laundering Law. Two proposals were eliminated from the initiative's ruling: that its initial proposals include among its objectives the prevention and detection of terrorist financing, in addition to operations with illicit proceeds, and that the Federal Penal Code include the crime of terrorist financing and its concealment among the list of crimes that can be committed by legal entities.

Only Article 400 Bis of the Code was amended, which will now have a paragraph III, to empower the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate institutions of the financial system, and to pursue criminal proceedings, a complaint from the Ministry of Finance will be required, which will be considered the victim or the offended party.

These reforms seek to ensure the effectiveness of the system by imposing proportional and dissuasive sanctions, including the revocation of permits for those who engage in vulnerable activities and fail to comply with their prevention obligations.

Penalties are included for those who fail to comply with reporting and prevention obligations, including the revocation of permits for vulnerable activities such as gambling and raffles, and the protection of funds and the transfer of funds.

Side effects

INTERVENTION. “Intercam is operating normally and will continue to support its clients, as we always have,” the bank's management stated, after being flagged as a source of concern regarding money laundering by the Treasury Secretariat. Less than 24 hours passed before the National Banking and Securities Commission announced that it would temporarily take control of the administrative bodies and legal representation of that institution and CIBanco. This management intervention, the regulatory authority justified, seeks to safeguard the rights of its clients and savers. And the Mexican Banking Association considered that these situations do not represent a “systemic risk nor do they affect the stability of the financial system.”

REACTION. Sergio Aguayo declined the position of director of the National Institute for the Study of the Mexican Revolutions, but agreed to join the Advisory Council of CIDE. The first line of resistance to his appointment came from the academic institution's board of directors. José Antonio Romero Tellaeche publicly challenged the appointment, signed by Secretary Rosaura Ruiz, and also the "early and illegal" removal of Felipe Ávila Espinosa as a CIDE advisor, which he received from a third-level official from the Undersecretariat of Technological Development, Outreach, and Innovation on the instructions of Juan Luis Díaz de León.