PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Kharla Aizpurua O., Roberto Vidal and Miguel Arias, Morgan & Morgan
is subject to the consideration of the board of directors of the stock exchange. 7.3 Regulatory Distinction Between Funds and Dealers In Panama, the regulations do not distinguish between funds or dealers that engage in these activities. The Securities Law in Panama does make a dis - tinction between a dealer and a fund. The Secu - rities Law defines “broker‐dealer firm” as a legal entity engaging in the business of purchasing and selling securities or financial instruments for third parties or on its own account. The opera - tion of a broker-dealer firm is regulated by Title III of the Securities Law and Agreement No 2-2011 of the SMV. On the other hand, the Securities Law defines “fund” ( “investment company” in Panama as used in the Securities Law) as a legal entity, trust or contractual arrangement that, by issuing and selling its own participation quotas, engages in the business of obtaining money from the investing public through one payment or periodical payments for the purpose of investing and trading securities, foreign exchange, met - als and supplies, chattel property or any other property determined by the SMV. The operation of a fund is regulated by Title VIII of the Securi - ties Law and Agreement No 5-2004 of the SMV. Both business models require authorisation from the SMV. In the case of a broker-dealer firm, the legal entity requires a licence issued by the SMV. In the case of a fund, the legal entity must be registered with the SMV. 7.4 Regulation of Programmers and Programming Panama has no regulations for programmers and the programming to develop and create trading algorithms and other electronic trading
tools, provided the programmers are not per - forming trades.
8. Insurtech 8.1 Underwriting Processes
The underwriting process by industry partici - pants in insutech usually involves the same process as that of traditional insurance compa - nies. There is no specific regulation applicable to insurtech. The Superintendence of Insurance and Reinsurance, or SSR, is the local regulatory body that supervises and regulates the insur - ance and reinsurance business. 8.2 Treatment of Different Types of Insurance The participants treat each type of insurance in accordance with the applicable current regula - tions. There is only one insurance regulator, which is the SSR, and regulation is mainly focused on the following lines of business, each of which requires its own respective licence: • personal – individual life in all its modali - ties, collective or group, personal accidents, health, industrial, annuities, income, disability, loss of income, assistance to travellers or any other insurance covering exposure to loss and risks of persons; • general – fidelity, fire and similar, maritime, land and/or air transport, sea and air hull, automobile, aviation, civil liability, theft, tech - nical branches, property titles, various risks, extensions of manufacturer guarantee, or any other insurance not included in the field of people and/or guarantee/bonds; and • guarantee and bond – compliance with the contract, with payment and other related
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