meta_id 3303590

On June 2026, Colombia's Financial Regulation Unit (URF) published a technical document proposing amendments to the large exposures regime for credit institutions. The proposals introduce specific exceptions to operations that currently count toward large exposure limits under Decree 1533 of 2022, which established a 10 percent threshold for identifying large exposures and a 25 percent individual counterparty limit based on basic capital. The URF identified operational distortions arising from three categories of transactions: foreign exchange settlement operations conducted through compensation accounts, receivables from merchant acquiring activities, and intraday or very short-term payment system operations. Although these transactions can reach significant amounts temporarily, they are characterized by transitional nature, low balance sheet permanence, absence of discretionary risk assumption, and no economic financing relationship. Currently, these operations count toward large exposure limits, creating technical breaches despite being driven by exogenous factors such as time zone differences, settlement cycles, and market infrastructure dependencies. The URF determined this treatment overestimates concentration risk and inefficiently allocates regulatory capital. The proposal adds two new exceptions to Article 2.1.2.1.4 of Decree 2555 of 2010. First, foreign exchange spot operations settled through Bank of the Republic compensation accounts would be excluded up to T+3 (three business days following negotiation). Second, receivables from merchant acquiring activities, including tax payment operations channeled through authorized banks to the National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN), would be excluded. The proposals align with Basel Committee standards and practices in the European Union and Australia, which similarly exclude technical settlement flows from large exposure calculations. Additionally, the URF proposes granting Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN), a state development bank, a differentiated treatment permitting exposure limits up to 45 percent of the capital base for infrastructure project financing, subject to board approval and documentation submitted to the Financial Superintendency of Colombia. The URF received comments from 14 stakeholders between May 12 and May 27, 2026, and incorporated several clarifications regarding foreign exchange settlement timelines and compensation account definitions. The regulations enter into force upon publication, with the Financial Superintendency of Colombia required to issue implementing instructions within six months.