El Salvador Fintech Strategy

El Salvador’s recent FinTech strategy lays out the future technical regulations necessary to open opportunities to the financial technology industry.
 

On December 5th, 2023, The Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador revealed the National FinTech Strategy which aims to develop a digital financial ecosystem that is balanced, innovative, open, and regulated.  El Salvador intends to develop the first digital financial ecosystem based on FinTech in Central America.  The strategy lays out the type of legal framework and technical regulations that are considered necessary, as well as cybersecurity, data privacy, and data protection principles. 

The anticipated legal framework is focused on the key themes of data governance and infrastructure, interoperability, regulation of digital services, rules on the use of data in the Cloud, measures to rebalance the bargaining power of new, small, or medium-sized companies, privacy regulations on the rights to personal records, and customer informed consent. Existing laws in areas interrelated to technological neutrality, digital identity, privacy and data protection, cybersecurity, consumer protection of digital financial services, due diligence measures, compliance with Know Your Customer, prevention of money and asset laundering, and financing of terrorism and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will apply. 

Technical regulations for the operation of payment and securities settlement systems, as well as the surveillance applicable to payment systems, instruments, and services in El Salvador will be developed.   Technical regulations will also include those related to authorizations to operate, digital platforms, technological requirements, products and services, suppliers, data protection, cybersecurity, prevention of money and asset laundering, financing of terrorism, and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, safeguarding of transactions, and obligations of administrators. 

A copy of the FinTech Strategy in Spanish is available at El Salvador FinTech Strategy 

For more information U.S. companies can contact the U.S. Commercial Service Office in San Salvador at office.sansalvador@trade.gov.