This May 17, 2021, came into force in the Republic of Nicaragua, Law 1072 Law of Amendments and Additions to Law No. 977, Law against money laundering, terrorism finance and financing for weapons proliferation of mass destruction and addition to Law No. 561 General Law of Banks, Non-Banking Financial Institutions and Financial Groups.
Among the reforms included in the definitions is the Electronic Transfer, indicating that it is any transaction carried out by electronic means making available to a beneficiary person, an amount of money or virtual assets, defining the latter as follows: “It is a digital representation of value that can be traded or transferred digitally and can be used for payments or investments. “Virtual assets do not include digital representations of fiat currency, securities, and other financial assets.”
Article 6 creates the National Council, formerly known as the National Commission, integrated by permanent representatives, adding the Ministry of the Interior and the Army of Nicaragua.
Also included in Article 9, paragraph 3, as an entity supervised by the FAU in matters of prevention are virtual asset service providers, which are those that carry out exchanges between virtual assets and fiat currencies, exchanges between one or more forms of virtual assets, transfer of virtual assets, custody and/or management of assets and participation and provision of financial services.
Said reform also includes the update of the types of regulated entities, in Article 10, establishing that based on the results of the national and sectoral evaluations or by provisions of international standards, the Council will propose to the President of the Republic to exclude from the list of regulated entities financial institutions and non-financial activities and professions other than those contemplated in the law, as well as their supervisor, so that by law initiative, the corresponding reforms to the law may be proposed.
And concerning the prevention of front activities, contained in Article 12, Lawyers and Notary Publics and Certified Public Accountants are exempted from said provision and shall be governed by the rules issued by their respective supervisors.