On April 1, President Sebastián Piñera enacted the employment protection bill, while the Financial Markets Commission modified the treatment of guarantees in favor of third parties involved in bilateral compensation agreements. Additionally, the Central Bank of Chile (BCCh) announced that monetary policy interest rate would be lowered by 50 basis points to 0.50%, and amended the compendium of financial regulations governing the management and measurement of the liquidity position of banking companies.

Piñera announced the bill authorizing workers who stop receiving their wages during the COVID-19 contingency to apply for unemployment insurance, as long as the company affected continues to pay the contributions required. This means that companies can stop work for a maximum period of six months, while their workers can resort to unemployment benefits. The bill also foresees reducing working hours, but prevents employers from dismissing employees on the grounds of “force majeure”. 

Secondly, the CMF issued Circular No. 2248 concerning the guarantees provided to third parties under a framework contract. The decision complements instructions on the subject, for the purposes of calculating capital adequacy assets.

Third, the BCCh announced that it had agreed to reduce the monetary policy interest rate by 50 basis points to 0.50%. It also issued Circular Letter No. 3013 modifying Section V.6 of Chapter III.B.2.1 of the Financial Standards Compendium, in order to incorporate number 12 ter, related to compliance management in contingency situations and updating Chapters III.B.2, III.B.2.1 and III.B.2.2 of the Compendium.

Finally, the Internal Revenue Service (SII, for its acronym in Spanish) announced that on April 1, Operation Revenue 2020 will begin, a process that this year will be marked by the strengthening of remote care channels due to the health situation. As of April 1, taxpayers may review a preliminary version of their proposed income tax return on the SII’s website. For more information on deadlines, access the official site here. Also, on March 30, Circular No. 22 regulating the tax treatment of derivative instruments was issued.