Act 30822 modifying Act 26702, the General Financial & Insurance System Law, together with other related regulations was published on July 19, 2018 by the Banking, Insurance & Pension-Fund Supervisor (SBS). The recent set of regulations, which will come into force on January 1, 2019, sets out the legal framework for Savings & Loan Cooperatives (COOPAC), authorizing the SBS to supervise these institutions.

As the Head of the SBS, Socorro Heysen commented in her interview in issue 12 of Progreso, the regulation aims to strengthen the Cooperative System, as well as offering greater security to cooperative members, in an effort to overcome one of the weaknesses affecting the financial system: the direct competition between informal, unsupervised companies and microfinance institutions. Another of the regulation's intentions, according to Socorro Heysen Zegarra, is to reinforce corporate governance in municipal savings & loans.

The regulation lays down the characteristics defining those savings & loan cooperatives that only operate with their members and are not authorized to capture resources from the public nor operate with third parties, indicating, among other areas, that COOPAC organs of governance must be identified.

It divides the COOPACs into three different modules according to their total assets:

• Level 1: COOPACs with assets up to 600 taxation units (UITs).
• Level 2: COOPACs with total assets between 600 and 65,000 taxation units.
• Level 3: COOPACs with total assets of over 65,000 taxation units. They must have an annual risk rating that is SBS-compliant.

The type of transactions that COOPACs can carry out depends on their module category; some may extend their activities, among them to accept compensation for time of service (CTS) deposits.

In addition, the regulation has created the National Record of Savings & Loan Cooperatives that are not authorized to capture resources from the public, which will be supervised by the Cooperatives Adjunct Authority; COOPAC must file for inclusion in the National Records within twenty (20) working days, starting the day after they are entered on the Public Records.

Finally, the regulation provides for the creation of the Cooperative Deposit Insurance Fund to protect COOPAC members who have contributed for 24 months and the obligation to comply with anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism regulation in their capacity as regulated institutions.