Colombian companies will see fewer bureaucratic impediments to receiving foreign investment, thanks to an agreement between the Colombian Central Bank and the body in charge of company oversight.
The contract, signed Monday by the heads of the Central Bank and of the Superintendency of Companies (Supersociedades), will facilitate exchange of information between the two bodies, allowing both to operate more effectively, Colombian media reported.
Following signing of the inter-institutional agreement, firms receiving foreign money will no longer have to present Form 15 to the central bank if they present their financial information to the Supersociedades.
In accordance with the rules of international exchange, the 4,000 Colombian companies receiving foreign investment were until now required to annually submit Form 15, a record of the amount of foreign investment received. Information required in the report included capital paid and received, wins and losses, and assets, among other things.
Failure to follow this process constituted an infraction that could lead to the imposition of sanctions up to 200 percent of the value of the original investment.
The contract is likely to greatly increase the operational efficiency of Supersociedades, which reported that nearly 60 percent of operations until now have been related to infractions reported in regards to Form 15.
The measure comes at a good time for all parties involved, following rating agency Standard & Poor’s recent decision to lift Colombia’s credit rating to investment grade.
