On September 10, as part of the ChileDay 2019 event in London, Finance Minister Felipe Larraín announced the main points of the bill aimed at turning Chile into a regional financial center. At the same time, Chilean Central Bank and Internal Revenue Service (SII, for its acronym in Spanish) authorities also announced measures to be implemented in order to help achieve this goal, including initiatives to promote the internationalization of the Chilean peso and strengthen financial market infrastructure, also envisaging tax changes related to this sector. 

The key points of this bill are the proposals to regulate and supervise over-the-counter (OTC) transaction platforms, updating legislation applicable to financial market infrastructures and eliminating tax asymmetries for operations performed in the capital market. The Executive is expected to present the bill in the coming months. 

Internal Revenue Service director Fernando Barraza made a presentation to the ChileDay Regulatory Panel concerning the administrative modifications to be introduced in the tax area with a view to promoting the country as a regional financial center. The initiatives will seek to facilitate compliance with tax obligations and enhance the experience of foreign investors making investments through the capital markets; support the agents involved in interacting with investors for registration purposes, as well as improve information delivery, tax statement filing and payment for all operations performed; and establish simple and clear regulations and instructions.

Central Bank president Mario Marcel also announced the measures that the institution is taking to promote the internationalization of the Chilean peso and strengthen the financial markets. The measures envisage publishing new public consultation regulations regarding the determinations which need to be adopted based on the bank’s existing mandate and attributions. These include the modernization of exchange regulations and the expansion of international exchange operations where Chilean pesos may be used. At the same time, Marcel referred to the inclusion of the Chilean peso as the first South American currency in the CLS-Bank. 

Finally, Chile signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cybersecurity with the United Kingdom. Minister Larraín clarified that, in order for Chile to become a regional financial center, “cybersecurity is key, since it is a standard that we are developing with which we must comply as a country, because this creates the trust necessary and is part of the strategy outlined by the President of the Republic.”