How to Invest in Chile: Preventing Money Laundering

Learn about the public policies aimed at the prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of money laundering and financing of terrorism in Chile.

The purpose of money laundering is to conceal or disguise the nature, origin, location, ownership or control of money and/or goods obtained illegally, and its prevention requires cooperation between public agencies and the private sector, including foreign companies established in Chile.  

Chile has a series of public policies aimed at the prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of money laundering and financing of terrorism, whose actions are led by the Financial Analysis Unit (Unidad de Análisis Financiero or UAF).

What does the Financial Analysis Unit do?

The objective of the UAF is to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing in Chile by analyzing financial intelligence, issuing regulations, overseeing their compliance, disseminating information to the public and assisting in international cooperation in order to protect the country and its economy from the distortions generated by these crimes. 

To achieve this objective, financial institutions are required to request their clients to provide a statement containing sufficient identification data on their beneficial owners: The individual or individuals who ultimately owns, directly or indirectly, through corporations or other mechanisms, a share equal to or greater than 10% of the capital or voting rights of a given legal entity or structure; and the individual or individuals who, although not meeting the above condition, exercises effective control over the legal entity or structure’s decision-making.  

In the case of foreign customers, the information required includes the identity and address of the individual who has the most senior management position abroad and their legal representatives domiciled in Chile. The customer has 45 business days to report all the information regarding its beneficial owners, be they foreign individuals or foreign legal entities. 

To learn more in detail about this and other material relevant to starting your business in Chile, download the chapter of our step-by-step guide for Foreign Investors. Other chapters of the guide also contain useful information about Labor Laws, Taxes and Environmental Assessment.