COLOMBIA

On June 1 the Financial Superintendence of Colombia (SFC) published a draft regulation that establishes special instructions for the activity of crowdfunding through securities. The document is open for suggestions until June 11, which may be submitted to [email protected].

The regulation allows small and medium-sized companies to finance their productive projects through the issuance of crowdfunding securities. For this reason, it outlines standards for the proper management of their risks, including those related to money laundering and terrorist financing, and operational and cybersecurity risk, as well as the rules for the proper provision of information to financial consumers.

The draft regulation consists of four amendments to the Basic Legal Circular, the content of which is summarized as follows:

• Collaborative financing activity through securities: The supervised entities must implement a Financial Consumer Service System (SAC) to consolidate in each entity a culture of attention, respect and service to financial consumers; to provide adequate information; to strengthen the attention to complaints, petitions and claims; and to promote the protection of financial consumer rights, as well as their financial education. It also establishes the scope of the SAC. 
• Instructions related to money laundering and terrorist financing risk management: Defines the operations with collaborative financing securities and establishes the mechanisms for ML/FT risk management. 
• Access to information for financial consumers: Requires entities that carry out the activity of collaborative financing through securities to publish the following information on interfaces, platforms, websites and any other electronic communication media: procedures and classification of productive projects, risks, entity’s regulations, mechanisms for notification of modification of the regulations and procedures for investment and issuance of securities, among others. 
• Consumer service instances in supervised entities: Incorporates the Specialized Companies for Electronic Deposits and Payments (SEDPE) and the collaborative financing companies as part of the supervised entities obliged to implement the SAC.