15 years in FinTech and payments. Maps your business model to the right licence scope and leads the file all the way to the SMV licence, including banking and payment rails.
Forex license in Panama: SMV casa de valores licence.
A forex license in Panama is a casa de valores (broker-dealer) licence from the Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores (SMV): the Securities Law reserves Forex for clients to casas de valores, as an activity incidental to securities business. Capital is B/.350,000 in balboas, free of liens, and the SMV charges B/.20,000 for the licence. We run the file from our Panama City office and plan for 9-12 months.
Updated · Reviewed by the Prifinance team
Forex license in Panama: only a casa de valores may run Forex for clients.
Panama brought Forex into regulation with Law 67 of 1 September 2011. Before it, in the SMV's words, Forex was not a regulated activity, and firms took money from the public under the Commercial Code. The Securities Law, now the Texto Único of Decree-Law 1 of 1999 published in February 2012, defines Forex as the habitual purchase and sale of currencies for clients as an investment activity (Art. 49(28)) and reserves it to casas de valores exclusively (Art. 72). Panama has no stand-alone forex or CFD licence. A casa de valores may engage only in the securities business, with Forex among the incidental activities Art. 54 allows, so a firm that wants nothing but FX still holds the full broker-dealer licence. Forex enters that licence through a business plan the SMV authorises under Acuerdo 4-2013, with its special and technological requirements (Arts. 6 and 7). Product terms are fixed in the plan the SMV approves.
Acuerdo 2-2011 spells out the substance: a commercial office in Panama with the books kept there, a board of at least five natural persons, two people with permanent residence who can receive notices, and a full-time, exclusive Ejecutivo Principal, Corredor de Valores and Oficial de Cumplimiento. The money stays committed. Capital of B/.350,000 must be free of liens at all times (Acuerdo 4-2011 Art. 4), solvency at least 8% of risk-weighted assets (Art. 5), and liquid assets must cover 30% of liabilities due within a year once Forex, derivatives or leveraged trading is in the plan (Art. 13). An errors-and-omissions policy of at least B/.1,000,000 runs until the licence is cancelled. The consolidated Securities Law on the SMV's website still shows the fees from before 2016; Law 66 of 2016 sets the current ones at B/.20,000 for the licence, then 0.0025% of each year's trading, never below B/.15,000 or above B/.100,000.
Only a casa de valores licensed by the SMV may carry on Forex for clients, as a sideline to securities business (Arts. 54, 72). Capital is B/.350,000, the licence fee B/.20,000. No separate forex or CFD licence.
At least five natural-person directors, two permanent residents, three full-time officers and an office in Panama. Liquidity of 30% once Forex is in the plan, supervision from B/.15,000 a year, 25% tax on Panamanian income.
A casa de valores that runs Forex, or an adviser without custody.
Both licences come from the SMV, and its FAQ draws the line between them: Forex for clients needs a casa de valores licence, while an investment adviser may only advise on Forex. We place the model on one side of that line before the business plan is written, because the plan is what the SMV authorises.
A casa de valores runs Forex; an adviser only advises on it.
The casa de valores with Forex in its business plan
A Panamanian casa de valores carries on Forex for clients as an incidental activity of its securities business (Art. 54), once the SMV has approved a business plan that includes it. It keeps B/.350,000 of capital free of liens, liquid assets of 30% against one-year liabilities and an E&O policy of at least B/.1,000,000.
A Panamanian casa de valores carries on Forex for clients as an incidental activity of its securities business (Art. 54), once the SMV has approved a business plan that includes it. It keeps B/.350,000 of capital free of liens, liquid assets of 30% against one-year liabilities and an E&O policy of at least B/.1,000,000.
- ✓Forex for clients - Arts. 54 and 72
- ✓B/.350,000 capital - Acuerdo 4-2011 Art. 4
- ✓Solvency 8% of risk-weighted assets
- ✓Liquidity 30% once Forex is in the plan
- ✓E&O policy of at least B/.1,000,000
- ✓Licence fee B/.20,000 - Law 66 of 2016
The investment adviser: advice and managed accounts, no custody
An SMV-licensed investment adviser may advise on Forex and manage client accounts held with an intermediary, but may not take custody of client assets (Art. 74; SMV FAQ 73-75). The licence costs B/.15,000 and B/.7,500 a year. The dealing itself, Forex for clients, stays with a casa de valores.
Advice on Forex and managed accounts at an intermediary, no custody; B/.15,000 plus B/.7,500 a year.
- ✓Advice on Forex - SMV FAQ 82
- ✓Managed accounts at an intermediary
- ✓No custody of client assets - Art. 74
- ✓Licence fee B/.15,000
- ✓Annual fee B/.7,500
- ✓No Forex dealing for clients
Costs and timelines are confirmed for your case before any work begins. Law 66 of 2016 also prices the people and the changes: B/.500 for each Ejecutivo Principal or Corredor de Valores y Analista licence plus B/.200 a year, B/.100 per exam, B/.2,500 for a change of control and B/.5,000 to cancel the licence.
A securities licence that covers Forex, in a country that taxes by source.
Panama put Forex inside its Securities Law in 2011, and the SMV supervises it as part of a broker-dealer's business.
Law 67 of 2011 made Forex a regulated activity reserved to casas de valores, and the SMV tells investors to check that a Forex firm holds its licence. A licensed casa de valores is a name a bank or a client can look up on the SMV's registers of regulated persons.Forex reserved to licensed casas de valores.
Panama allows foreign ownership. A foreign company may apply once registered in the Registro Público as a sociedad extranjera (Acuerdo 2-2011 Art. 8(2)(b)), and a casa de valores licensed in a jurisdiction with substantially equal protection may be spared parts of the rules (Securities Law Art. 57).Allowed; foreign firms register as sociedad extranjera.
The SMV's annual supervision fee is 0.0025% of the year's trading in securities and financial instruments, with a floor of B/.15,000 and a ceiling of B/.100,000 under Law 66 of 2016. Past the ceiling, a bigger book adds nothing to the bill.Supervision B/.15,000 to B/.100,000 a year.
Panama taxes a company's Panamanian-source income at 25%. Foreign-source income is outside the tax, though its costs are not deductible either, and dividends paid out of foreign-source profits carry 5% instead of 10%.25% on Panamanian-source income only.
The licence covers business in or from Panama (Art. 50), and a casa de valores may keep correspondent relationships with foreign brokers in recognised jurisdictions (Art. 58). It carries no passport, so each client's home country still applies its own rules.Foreign brokers in recognised jurisdictions.
B/.350,000 free of liens, liquid assets of 30% against one-year liabilities and an E&O policy of at least B/.1,000,000 stay in place for as long as the firm holds the licence. A capital shortfall goes to the SMV at once, with an action plan within five business days.Capital, liquidity and E&O stay committed.
How Panama differs from other routes.
Belize, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands are the nearby flags we set a Panama file against. Belize asks BZ$1,000,000 of a principal dealer and Cayman CI$100,000; the Bahamas writes a 0.5% retail margin floor, 200:1, into its CFD Rules, and neither it nor Cayman taxes corporate income. Panama asks B/.350,000, sets product terms through the SMV-approved plan and taxes Panamanian-source income at 25%.
| Feature | Panama | Other jurisdictions |
|---|---|---|
| Dealer's capital | B/.350,000 · free of liens | BZ$1,000,000 Belize · CI$100,000 Cayman |
| Regulator's fees | B/.20,000 licence · B/.15,000-B/.100,000 a year | CI$1,000 to apply · CI$10,000 a year Cayman |
| Retail CFD rules | Set in the SMV-approved business plan | 0.5% margin floor and NBP by rule · Bahamas |
| Corporate tax | 25% · Panamanian-source income | None in the Bahamas and Cayman · territorial Belize |
| Country | License type | Taxation | Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
Panama | SMV casa de valores licence | 25% territorial · dividends 10% or 5% | B/.350,000, five directors, two residents |
Belize | FSC registration (principal) | Territorial business tax | BZ$1M (~US$500k) in Belize |
Bahamas | SCB registration + CFD Rules | No corporate income tax | 0.5% margin floor, NBP, reports |
Cayman Islands | CIMA SIB licence | No corporate income tax | CI$100k floor, CI$10k annual |
Panama
Belize
Bahamas
Cayman IslandsForex licences in neighbouring jurisdictions
All 79 forex licence jurisdictions →
How to start a forex brokerage: license, capital and steps →
Forex license requirements in Panama: what the SMV checks.Panama forex license requirements.
The SMV meets the project before it reads an application, and Acuerdo 2-2011 lists what the file must hold. The ten points below run in the order the SMV meets them.
Reflects the Securities Law in its Texto Único of 2012, Law 66 of 2016, Acuerdo 2-2011 as amended to 23 November 2022 and Acuerdo 4-2011 as amended to 27 April 2020, as of October 2026.Securities Law, Law 66 of 2016, Acuerdos 2-2011 and 4-2011, as of October 2026.
Official sources
Regulator pages, legal texts and public registers the figures on this page are based on.
- LawSecurities Law, Texto Único of Decree-Law 1 of 1999 - SMVsupervalores.gob.pa
- FeesLaw 66 of 2016 (registration and supervision fees) - Legispan, National Assemblys3-legispan.asamblea.gob.pa
- RegulatorSMV - Acuerdo 4-2011 on capital adequacy, solvency and liquidity, consolidated textsupervalores.gob.pa
- RegulatorSMV - Acuerdo 2-2011 on casas de valores, consolidated textsupervalores.gob.pa
- RegulatorSMV - Forex: Acuerdo 4-2013 and authorised entitiessupervalores.gob.pa
From the SMV's prior meeting to the opening inspection.
The Forex model is placed inside a casa de valores, or kept to advice, and written into the business plan Art. 14-A asks for: client segment, products, channels, jurisdictions served, correspondents and custodians.Forex written into the business plan.
The SMV meets the project under Acuerdo 9-2013 before anything is filed, and gives its prior approval of the corporate object.The SMV sees the project first.
The company is formed with registered shares and natural-person directors, B/.350,000 goes in, and the Ejecutivo Principal and Corredor de Valores sit the SMV exams for their individual licences.Capital in, SMV exams sat.
A Panamanian lawyer files the application with the DRA forms, the E&O proposal and the AML manual. Each round of SMV observations gets at least 30 calendar days for an answer, and 30 days without a full one lets the SMV refuse.Observations answered within 30 days.
Within six months of the licence the firm leases its premises, files the officers' DRA forms, the E&O policy and financial statements, gives five business days' notice and opens after the SMV's inspection, with the SMV sticker on display.Six months to open after the licence.
The SMV's decision time is confirmed per case: the applicant has at least 30 calendar days for each round of observations and 15 for clarifications, longer for documents from abroad. We plan for 9-12 months from the prior meeting to the licence, then up to six months to open.
Run from our Panama City office.

The project put to the SMV under Acuerdo 9-2013, with the corporate object approved by the SMV in advance, as Securities Law Art. 332 requires.Acuerdo 9-2013 meeting, corporate object cleared.
Registered shares, at least five natural-person directors, two permanent residents for notices and a commercial lease in Panama City.At least five directors, two residents, a lease.
An Ejecutivo Principal and a Corredor de Valores prepared for the SMV exams, and a full-time Oficial de Cumplimiento with the AML manual behind them.SMV exams, compliance officer in post.
Premises, the E&O policy, the officers' DRA forms and the SMV inspection completed inside the six months that follow the licence.Six months, inspection, SMV sticker.






Taxation of forex brokers in Panama.
A Panamanian casa de valores pays income tax at 25% on its Panamanian-source income; what it earns abroad stays outside the tax, and so do the costs of earning it.
The DGI's rate table sets income tax for legal persons at 25% from 2011 onwards, down from 27.5% in 2010. Banks, regulated finance companies and insurers moved from 30% to 25% on 1 January 2014, and companies more than 40% state-owned pay 30%.Legal persons, from 2011.
Income from foreign sources is not taxed in Panama, and the DGI does not allow the costs and losses of earning it as deductions. Securities Law Art. 59 adds a narrow rule for a bank with an international licence that also holds a casa de valores licence: commissions for directing from Panama trades between non-domiciled owners, perfected abroad, are not treated as produced in Panama.Not taxed; costs not deductible.
A company with taxable income above B/.1,500,000 pays on the higher of its ordinary net taxable income and 4.67% of total taxable income (the CAIR). Foreign-source and exempt income stay out of that base, commission income counts in full, and a company may ask for up to three years' exemption if the CAIR causes a loss or an effective rate above the statutory one.4.67% above B/.1,500,000 of taxable income.
Distributions of Panamanian-source profits carry 10% withholding; profits from foreign-source, export or certain exempt income carry 5%. The withholding is final and remitted within 10 days, and tax treaties prevail.10% or 5%, final withholding.
A company that distributes less than 40% of its net profit after tax owes the 10% dividend tax on the difference; the threshold is 20% where the 5% rate applies. Loans to shareholders also bear the 10% dividend tax.10% on the undistributed shortfall.
Branches of foreign companies pay the 10% on 100% of the taxable income they obtain in Panama, less the taxes paid on it. We set that against a Panamanian subsidiary's dividend profile before the structure is fixed.10% on Panama income, less tax paid.
*As of 2026 per the DGI's income tax rate table, its general rules for the income tax return and its dividend tax guidance (Form 07). Group and founder-level outcomes are modelled per structure.
Experienced lawyers and international consultants.
We provide end-to-end support, from company registration and the application file to regulatory interaction and compliance oversight - with an individualized approach to each client.
Builds the application itself: Panamanian company, AML/KYC policy pack, capital structure and tax registrations. His document sets are the reason reviews finish in months, not years.
First point of contact for international founders. Runs the whole setup remotely, across time zones and languages - from the first call to a live, licensed broker.
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Get your forex license in Panama with expert support.
Full-service assistance - from the SMV prior meeting and a business plan with Forex in it to the B/.350,000 capital, the officers' exams and the opening inspection - run through our Panama City office.
Get a consultation →Is Panama the right fit for your project?
Our legal team will analyze your case at no cost and provide a written legal opinion: which jurisdiction, licence scope, or route fits your business.
Founders' questions on the SMV, Forex and casas de valores.
Which licence does a forex broker need in Panama?+
A casa de valores licence from the SMV. Since Law 67 of 2011 the Securities Law has reserved Forex for clients to casas de valores (Art. 72), and the SMV's FAQ limits investment advisers to advising on it. Own-account FX, bank treasuries, exchange houses and remitters fall outside the rule (Art. 73).
How does a casa de valores add Forex?+
Through its business plan. The firm files a plan for SMV authorisation that meets the general rules and the special and technological requirements of Acuerdo 4-2013 Arts. 6 and 7. Product terms are fixed in the plan the SMV approves, so we confirm the SMV's current expectations before the plan is filed.
How long does a forex license in Panama take?+
The SMV's decision time is confirmed per case; each round of observations gives the applicant at least 30 calendar days, and 30 days without a full answer lets the SMV refuse. With the prior meeting first, we plan for 9-12 months to the licence, and the firm then has six months to open.
What does a forex license in Panama cost?+
The SMV charges B/.20,000 for the casa de valores licence, then a supervision fee of 0.0025% of each year's trading, at least B/.15,000 and at most B/.100,000 (Law 66 of 2016). Capital is B/.350,000 and the E&O policy at least B/.1,000,000; our fees are confirmed in the quote.
Can a foreign group own a Panamanian casa de valores?+
Yes. Foreign ownership is allowed, shares must be nominative, and any change of control needs the SMV's prior consent (Securities Law Art. 56). A foreign company may also apply in its own name once registered in the Registro Público as a sociedad extranjera (Acuerdo 2-2011 Art. 8(2)(b)).
What substance does the SMV expect in Panama?+
A commercial office with the books kept in Panama, at least five natural-person directors, two permanent residents who can receive notices, and a full-time Ejecutivo Principal, Corredor de Valores and Oficial de Cumplimiento who may not be shared without SMV approval (Acuerdo 2-2011 Art. 9).
Does a Panamanian licence passport abroad?+
No. The SMV licence covers business in or from Panama (Securities Law Art. 50) and gives no passport. A casa de valores may keep correspondent relationships with foreign brokers in recognised jurisdictions (Art. 58); whether a client's home country allows the service is a matter for that country's rules.
How is a Panamanian casa de valores taxed?+
At 25% on Panamanian-source income, with foreign-source income outside the tax and its costs not deductible. Above B/.1,500,000 of taxable income the CAIR minimum of 4.67% of total taxable income can apply. Dividends carry 10% or 5%, and paying out less than 40% of net profit after tax brings the 10% on the shortfall.
Panama or the Bahamas for a CFD broker?+
The Bahamas, if a written CFD rulebook matters most: its CFD Rules set a 0.5% retail margin floor (200:1) and negative balance protection by rule, and it levies no corporate income tax. Panama fits a group that wants a securities licence with Forex in its plan, at B/.350,000 of capital and 25% on Panamanian-source income.
Why Prifinance for Panama?+
We take the project through the SMV's prior meeting, write the business plan with Forex in it, and build the casa de valores around the B/.350,000 capital, a board of at least five and the three officers. The work runs through our Panama City office, with the tax model built alongside.
Which licence?+
An SMV casa de valores licence.
Adding Forex?+
Through the SMV-approved business plan.
How long?+
SMV timing per case; 9-12 months planned.
Cost?+
B/.20,000 licence; supervision from B/.15,000.
Foreign owners?+
Allowed; control changes need SMV consent.
Substance?+
Office, at least five directors, two residents, three officers.
Passport?+
None; business in or from Panama.
Tax?+
25% on Panamanian-source income.
Or the Bahamas?+
Written CFD rules there; a securities licence here.
Why you?+
Panama City office, prior meeting first.
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One message away from your Panama forex licence.
Get a free legal opinion on your project - our legal team will analyze your case at no cost and provide a written legal opinion: which jurisdiction, licence scope, or route fits your business.Free legal opinion: whether your Forex model needs a casa de valores or an adviser licence in Panama, and what it will cost.
Prifinance is an independent law and advisory firm. We are not a regulator and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores (SMV) or any other public authority. Authorisations are granted by, and obtained directly from, the competent authorities.