Paraguay tightens financial oversight

What did the BCP change in the securities market?

The Central Bank of Paraguay strengthened the powers of its Securities Superintendence and launched a single digital platform for registering investment trust funds and book-entry shares, under Law No. 7572. As of April 3, 2025, those instruments must be registered exclusively through that system.

The monetary authority said the goal is to unify and modernize a regulatory framework that was previously spread across seven laws. The move is part of a broader overhaul of Paraguay’s financial regulatory environment and expands the scope of supervision, regulation, and enforcement in the securities market.

How did traceability change for funds and custodians?

The Securities Depository of Paraguay, under the supervision of the BCP’s Securities Superintendence, completed the separation of functions with the Asunción Stock Exchange in early 2026 and fully took over post-trade tasks through the Montran technology platform.

It also reported roughly USD 6.6 billion in assets under custody at the end of the first half and the development of new products such as immobilized CDA instruments and a currency futures contract, in coordination with the regulator. At the same time, local financial press reported that ueno bank posted a net balance of about G. 761,444 million in the Intangible Assets, Systems account in the first half of 2026, after investing more than G. 654,799 million in software over the past year. According to ABC Color, that technology base is about three times larger than the combined software investments of nine competing banks under the same accounting category.

ABC Color also said that, after BCP Resolution SB.SG. No. 00105/24, the Major Investments category is reserved for systems whose useful life is intended to extend beyond five years, and that the regulator specifies internally developed software can only be capitalized from the development phase, applying a stricter standard for internal IT projects.

What is the DNIT asking of taxpayers and crypto operators?

The National Tax Revenue Directorate launched a digitization project that allows banks to access tax returns directly from the tax source, as long as the taxpayer gives express authorization, and added new functions to Marangatu to check online whether a purchase receipt is already listed in the Receipt Registry.

That control is intended to detect duplicate entries and strengthen oversight of invoices, although DNIT itself said the search result is only indicative and does not by itself certify the legitimacy of a transaction or replace an audit.

For cryptoassets, General Resolution No. 47/2026 established that the first Informative Tax Return will correspond to fiscal year 2026 and must be filed in March 2027 through Marangatu. The requirement applies to platforms operating in Paraguay and to resident individuals or legal entities that carry out annual cryptoasset transactions above USD 5,000, including transactions without intermediaries or through foreign platforms.

A later legal analysis said the filing must include the date and time of the transaction, identification of the parties involved or public wallet addresses, the name and network of the cryptoasset, the amount traded to the tenth decimal place, gross value in dollars, fees, gas fees, transaction hash, and the origin and destination addresses. That same analysis stressed that the tax administration must justify the necessity and proportionality of each data point against personal data protection standards.

What happened with the cybersecurity law?

The public hearing on Paraguay’s cybersecurity bill ended with the decision to open a new working table after several public and private institutions said they had reservations because they had prepared their comments based on an earlier version of the text.

According to parliamentary coverage, a different draft was presented during the session than the one invited participants had reviewed, and several institutions chose not to comment. The new working group will review the updated version of the bill and gather input again from the public and private sectors.