Uruguay's BCU expands financial controls

Update August 31, 2026: The BCU added supervisory data showing tighter oversight in 2025. The FIU received 1,080 suspicious transaction reports, the Financial Services Superintendency carried out 73 on-site inspections, and resolved 113 complaints against financial institutions.

The Central Bank of Uruguay said that, starting in September 2026, it will allow virtual asset service providers to complete the authorization and registration process entirely online under the new virtual assets regulatory framework. The measure is meant to simplify filings with the regulator and comes on top of other recent changes to Uruguay’s financial compliance regime.

What did the BCU authorize for virtual asset providers?

The BCU will roll out a fully digital process so Virtual Asset Service Providers can apply for authorization and registration. The change was announced with implementation set for September 2026, according to the central bank’s notice, which was also reported by Ámbito.

The move comes as Uruguay continues to fine-tune regulation of supervised financial activities. According to Global Tax Uruguay, companies engaged in regulated financial activities must comply with financial licenses and Banco Central oversight, along with minimum capital requirements, corporate governance rules, periodic reporting, and transparency obligations.

What does the BCU's new sworn statement require?

Communication No. 2026/116 requires anyone who begins conducting public fundraising activities after it takes effect to submit a sworn statement before starting operations. According to Guyer & Regules, that creates a market entry condition similar to the one imposed on formal financial entities.

The requirement applies to new players seeking to enter the market after the rule is in force, and it strengthens the Central Bank’s prior-control framework. In practice, the regulator is adding a formal step before business can begin, in line with the level of oversight already applied to other financial entities.

What do the 2025 supervision and complaint figures show?

The BCU's Financial Services Superintendency reported 73 on-site inspections in 2025, 593 complaints tied to the financial sector, and 113 complaints resolved against financial institutions. At the same time, the FIU received 1,080 suspicious transaction reports, 12% more than in 2024, when it received 964.

According to the 2025 Annual Report, those 1,080 STRs are the highest total on record since the reporting obligation for unusual transactions was created. Uruguayan media coverage also indicated that the trend has risen since 2021, placing the 2025 jump within a sustained upward pattern.

Of the 113 complaints resolved by the BCU, 73% were against banks and 23% against credit administrators, according to El Observador. The report also said the most common issues were disputed transactions, Credit Risk Registry information, credit card operations, disagreements over fees or charges, and notices of contract changes.

How are suspicious reports distributed?

Of the 1,080 STRs filed in 2025, 972 came from financial entities and 108 from nonfinancial entities, according to La Diaria. The FIU and SSF annual report also breaks the figure down as 973 reports from the financial sector and 107 from the nonfinancial sector, a minor methodological difference between reports received and processed.

The sector breakdown showed that within the financial sector, banks accounted for 765 reports and electronic money issuers for 118. In the nonfinancial sector, seven out of 10 STRs came from notaries, casinos, real estate firms, property developers, and construction companies, according to information cited by Prensa Latina.

What happened to banking secrecy in the Rendición de Cuentas?

The 2026 Rendición de Cuentas included a proposed article that would have allowed entities supervised by the Central Bank to share information protected by confidentiality or banking secrecy with their parent companies, branches, subsidiaries, or other group entities, inside or outside Uruguay, to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. However, the change failed again and was not approved.

Ámbito reported that the proposal did not advance in Parliament, and la diaria said the Chamber of Deputies debated the issue in a politically contentious session. The draft aimed to allow information sharing among entities in the same economic group, but the article was not included.

How does this fit into Uruguay's financial regime?

The key point is that Uruguay is tightening registration and authorization paths for new players such as virtual asset service providers, while leaving banking secrecy unchanged after the Rendición de Cuentas proposal failed. At the same time, the financial supervision framework continues to require licenses, controls, and reporting from regulated entities.

Together, these rules place financial and virtual asset operators in a more formal compliance environment, with the BCU as the central authority for authorization and oversight. In that framework, the transparency obligations cited by Global Tax Uruguay also include a beneficial ownership registry accessible to competent authorities.

In its 2025 Annual Report, the Financial Services Superintendency also highlighted the approval of a new National Strategy against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing with a 2030 horizon. That institutional framework helps explain the rise in suspicious reports and the sharper supervisory posture across Uruguay's financial system.