Joint MEF-BRH Notice: Only Authorized Financial Institutions May Carry Out Foreign Exchange Transactions

To limit the risks of money laundering, terrorist financing, financial crime and organized crime, the BRH and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) remind the public, and economic agents in particular (exporters, importers, money transfer houses with their agents and sub-agents, NGOs), that only financial institutions authorized by the BRH may carry out foreign exchange transactions.

The notice cites article 3 of the decree of January 18, 1990, under which economic agents must follow the BRH's regulatory and administrative measures on foreign currency, taken in agreement with the MEF. Non-compliance is sanctioned by refusal of the export permit or withdrawal of the authorization to operate for one year, applied by the competent administration on the BRH's report, without prejudice to other sanctions in the law.