Título I. Disposiciones generales

The purpose of this Law is to regulate matters relating to the creation, organization, merger, activities, operations, functioning, suspension of operations and liquidation of banks and financial groups, as well as the establishment and closure of branches and representative offices of foreign banks.

For purposes of the present Law, the denomination “bank” comprises banks constituted in the country and branches of foreign banks established therein.

Banks authorized in accordance with this Law or specific laws may engage in bank financial intermediation, consisting of the habitual performance, in public or private form, of activities consisting of the raising of money, or any instrument representative thereof, from the public, such as the receipt of deposits, placement of bonds, securities or other obligations, allocating it to financing of any nature, regardless of the legal form adopted by such raisings and financings.

Entities that receive deposits or contributions from their members and from third parties, such as cooperatives, mutual societies, community development associations, associative community enterprises, non-governmental organizations and private development organizations, among others, and that are governed by a special law, are exempted from the provisions of this Law. In any case, such entities shall be obligated to submit the periodic or occasional information required of them by the Superintendency of Banks.

Banks, finance companies, savings and loan banks for family housing, financial groups, and the companies comprising the latter, and representative offices of foreign banks shall be governed, in that order, by their specific laws, by this Law, by the provisions issued by the Monetary Board and, to the extent applicable, by the Organic Law of the Bank of Guatemala, the Monetary Law and the Financial Supervision Law. In matters not provided for in these laws, they shall be subject to the general legislation of the Republic to the extent applicable to them.

Administrative acts and decisions issued by both the Monetary Board and the Superintendency of Banks in application of the laws and regulations indicated herein, observing due process, shall be executory and of immediate application.