Chile's Ministry of Finance reported that the Senate Finance Committee approved, article by article, a fast-tracked bill to create an Economic Intelligence Subsystem and introduce prevention and early-warning measures against activities linked to organised crime, with the stated aim of facilitating the tracing of illicit money flows from money laundering, terrorism financing and related offences. The package would strengthen the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF) by extending its remit to organised crime, create intelligence units within the Internal Revenue Service (SII) and Customs, and streamline intelligence work covering the collection, analysis, storage and exchange of data on economic activities linked to specified crimes. It would also amend Law 19.913 to define organised crime and keep judicial authorisation as the general rule for lifting bank secrecy, while adding three administrative exceptions where a suspicious transaction report (ROS) exists: where the ROS was filed by a bank, where it concerns a public official, and where it concerns a legal entity. The UAF would be required to publish aggregated annual statistics each March on use of this power, including the number of requests, the number of persons affected and the legal basis, and to report how many persons’ banking information was incorporated into analyses sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office; a further amendment would allow biometrically registered migrants without criminal records to apply for financial products and services within 12 months of the law’s publication. The bill now moves to a vote in the full Senate and, if approved, would proceed to the Chamber of Deputies for the second legislative stage.
Ministry of Finance (Chile) 2025-01-15
Chile's Ministry of Finance reports Senate committee approval of Economic Intelligence Subsystem bill expanding UAF powers and creating bank secrecy exceptions for ROS cases
Chile's Ministry of Finance announced Senate Finance Committee approval of a bill to establish an Economic Intelligence Subsystem to combat organised crime by enhancing the Financial Analysis Unit's remit and creating intelligence units within the Internal Revenue Service and Customs. The bill proposes amendments to Law 19.913, defining organised crime and setting conditions for lifting bank secrecy. It also allows biometrically registered migrants without criminal records to access financial services within 12 months of the law's enactment.