Actualidad Colombia

Explicit consent needed to access financial services

Bill 119-C/2015

The House of Representatives of the Congress of the Republic of Colombia passed the first reading of a new version of Bill 119-C, 2015. This would make the explicit written or online consent of financial consumers a mandatory prerequisite for entering into deposit contracts, and also for access to any financial services sold by financial institutions and linked to such contracts.

This version of the bill changed article 1, replacing it with the following text: "deposit contracts in savings, current or term accounts, may not offer services other than for the deposit initially made. Each contract or service other than those listed above should be entered into separately and signed by hand or using other valid means of documentation."

This bill sets out the legal repercussions of non-compliance with the requirement of explicit consent by financial consumers: contracts that do not meet this formality will be void.

The new text specifies the sanctions that institutions will incur if they do not abide by this law. These oscillate between 10 and 100 monthly minimum wages (MMW): COP 6,894,540 to COP 68,945,400 (approximately USD 2,253 to USD 22,529, respectively).