AML Compliance and Registration as a Sujeto Obligado

Costa Rica requires designated non-financial businesses and professions — including real estate brokers, developers, lawyers and notaries acting in certain capacities — to register as sujetos obligados and to maintain an anti-money-laundering compliance framework.

The obligation is not theoretical. Registration, policy adoption, client due diligence, record-keeping and reporting are supervised, and non-compliance carries consequences that reach the professional personally.

What is required

Determination of whether the activity falls within the designated categories, registration before the corresponding supervisor, adoption of a compliance policy proportionate to the operation, appointment of a compliance officer where applicable, client identification and beneficial ownership procedures, risk assessment, record retention, and reporting of suspicious operations.

Our position

We advise real estate professionals and companies on this framework as counsel, and we operate under it ourselves. We have also built internal tooling to assess client risk in a structured way rather than by intuition.

If you are a buyer: why everyone asks about your funds

Foreign buyers are often surprised by how much documentation the escrow agent and the bank request: identification, proof of address, tax returns, bank statements, the sale contract of another property. None of it is personal. Escrow agents and banks are supervised entities and must be able to show where the money in each transaction came from. A file prepared in advance avoids the most common cause of delayed closings, which is a compliance request that arrives the week the wire is due.

We help clients assemble that file early, explain the origin of funds in the terms a compliance officer needs, and respond to follow-up requests without exposing more information than necessary.

How we work with a business

1. Diagnosis. We determine whether your activity falls within the designated categories and before which supervisor.
2. Registration. We prepare and file the registration and respond to the supervisor’s observations.
3. Policy and procedures. A compliance manual proportionate to the size and risk of the operation, not a generic document nobody will follow.
4. Client due diligence tools. Know-your-client forms, beneficial ownership identification, sanctions and politically exposed person screening, and enhanced due diligence for higher-risk clients.
5. Training and follow-up. Training for staff, periodic review of the risk assessment and support when a suspicious operation has to be evaluated.

Frequently asked questions

I am a foreign broker or developer working in Costa Rica. Does this apply to me?

If the activity is carried out in Costa Rica and falls within the designated categories, the obligation applies regardless of the nationality of the person or company. The first step is a diagnosis of what you actually do.

What are the consequences of not registering?

Administrative sanctions and, in practice, growing difficulty in operating: banks ask for proof of registration before opening or maintaining accounts for businesses in covered activities.

Is compliance only paperwork?

No. The framework is risk-based. A supervisor expects to see that the business understands its own risks and applies its procedures to real clients, which is a matter of practice and not only of having a manual.

Munduss Legal — José David Garro Castro, Attorney at Law and Notary Public. Office in Tamarindo, Guanacaste. Request a consultation.