The Multiple Purpose Financial Companies (SOFOM) are commercial companies whose main purpose is to grant loans with the ease of not merely depending on a bank to obtain this benefit.
The main characteristic of these companies is to be registered with the National Commission for the Protection and Defense of the Consumer of Users of Financial Services (CONDUSEF), which in turn is in charge of the Financial Service Providers Registration System (SIPRES) while these companies can be regulated or not regulated as it is establish by themselves.
The General Law of Credit Auxiliary Organizations and Activities establishes in its article 87-B that for the registration of these companies before CONFUSEF they must meet at least the following requirements:
- To contemplate in its corporate purpose mainly the activities granting loans, financial leasing or financial factoring;-
- They may consider, in a complementary manner to their corporate purpose, the administration of credit portfolios, as well as the leasing of movable and immovable property;
- Add to its corporate name the words Multiple Purpose Financial Company (SOFOM), as well as Regulated Entity (ER) or Non-Regulated Entity (ENR) as the case may be;
- In the event that they are Non-Regulated Entities, they must comply with the technical opinion issued by the National Banking and Securities Commission, which has its specifications established in article 87-P of the General Law of Credit Auxiliary Organizations and Activities.
Likewise, the SOFOM ENR is obligated to report suspicious transactions that could be linked to money laundering, in addition they must keep, for a period of at least 10 years, information and documents related to the identification of their users/customers. When obtaining a new client/user, the SOFOM must clearly and unambiguously inform everything that involves the contract they enter into, such as the amount, payment, interest, etc., which must be covered by the user.
An essential part of knowing these and other obligations lies in the need to have specialists in this service.
Antonio Quiroga
Gloria Ponce de León & Hernández
