Countries › Costa Rica › Guide › 10. Capital markets and finance › Capital markets, banking and credit in Costa Rica: who supervises, how to raise money, rate caps and deposit guarantee

Capital markets, banking and credit in Costa Rica: who supervises, how to raise money, rate caps and deposit guarantee

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Last verified: 2026-10-30 · Status: Changing

Four superintendencies under one council (CONASSIF) supervise banks and other lenders (SUGEF), securities (SUGEVAL), pensions (SUPEN) and insurance (SUGESE). Taking deposits from the public needs SUGEF authorisation, public offers of securities need SUGEVAL authorisation, and every lender, regulated or not, is bound by the BCCR's semiannual maximum interest rates (36.48% in colones and 30.11% in dollars for loans made July to December 2026). Deposits are guaranteed up to ₡6,000,000 per person per entity, and a September 2026 law opened the door to foreign securities and remote foreign brokers.

USD figures use the Banco Central de Costa Rica reference selling rate of ₡454.82 per US dollar published for 29 October 2026 (indicator 318 on bccr.fi.cr), rounded to the cent.

Key facts

Umbrella supervisory council	CONASSIF (SUGEF, SUGEVAL, SUPEN, SUGESE) textLey 7732 art. 169; Ley 8653 art. 28, as of 2026-10-30 · in force
Banking supervisor	SUGEF textLey 7558 art. 115, as of 2026-10-30 · in force
Securities supervisor	SUGEVAL textLey 7732 art. 2 and 3, as of 2026-10-30 · in force
Maximum annual interest rate, general credit in colones, Jul to Dec 2026	36.48 %Ley 7472 art. 36 bis, as of 2026-10-30 · in force
Deposit guarantee per person per entity	6000000 CRCLey 9816 art. 22, as of 2026-10-30 · in force
Rate used for USD conversions (BCCR reference selling rate published for 29 Oct 2026)	454.82 CRC per USDBCCR indicator 318, as of 2026-10-30 · in force

The rule

1. SUGEF, SUGEVAL and SUPEN work under the Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero (CONASSIF): five members appointed by the BCCR board, the Minister of Finance and the BCCR president or manager; the superintendents attend with voice but no vote.Ley 7732, art. 169, 1997-12-17 official text · verified 2026-10-30

2. SUGESE, the insurance superintendency, was created as a body attached to the BCCR and also works under CONASSIF.Ley 8653, art. 28, 2008-07-22 official text · verified 2026-10-30

3. Only entities expressly authorised by law and by SUGEF may carry out financial intermediation, defined as habitually taking funds from the public to lend or invest them at the intermediary's own risk. Raising money for a company's own non financial working capital or projects through SUGEVAL registered issues is not intermediation.Ley 7558, art. 116, as reformed by Ley 10973, 2026-09-02 official text · verified 2026-10-30 · changed: Ley 10973 of 2 Sep 2026 (in force 7 Sep 2026) rewrote art. 116 to cover any contractual form or electronic record used to take funds and to carve out SUGEVAL registered issues by non financial companies.

4. Only issuers and intermediaries authorised by SUGEVAL may make public offers of securities or provide securities intermediation; SUGEVAL sets by regulation when an offer is public or private.Ley 7732, art. 2, 2019-10-16 official text · verified 2026-10-30

5. Every lender, whether a bank or a private person, must keep interest within the BCCR's maximum annual rates, published in the first week of January and July and applying to contracts made in the following semester. For July to December 2026: 36.48% in colones and 30.11% in dollars for general credit, 51.51% and 42.65% for microcredit, 7.27% in other currencies.Ley 7472, art. 36 bis (added by Ley 9859); caps from BCCR communiqué CP-BCCR-017-2026, 2020-06-16 official text · verified 2026-10-30

6. Deposits at SUGEF supervised entities (except the Banco Hipotecario de la Vivienda and mutuales) are guaranteed up to ₡6,000,000 per person and per entity, principal only, in any currency.
Example: ₡6,000,000 guaranteed per person per bank. / About US$13,192.03 per person per bank.Ley 9816, art. 2 and 22, 2020-02-11 official text · verified 2026-10-30

7. Foreign securities registered in a jurisdiction recognised by CONASSIF can be recognised by SUGEVAL for public offer in Costa Rica, and the stock exchanges may admit foreign remote brokers to trade for clients from their home country.Ley 10973, art. 10 to 13 (Ley 7732 art. 8(s), 14 bis, 60 bis, 171(u)), 2026-09-02 official text · verified 2026-10-30 · changed: New regime in force 7 Sep 2026; CONASSIF has six months to issue the regulations and the exchanges six months after that.

Activity	Supervisor	Key law
Deposit taking and lending (banks, financieras, cooperatives, mutuales)	SUGEF	Ley 7558 art. 116 and 117; Ley 1644
Public offers, brokers, exchanges, investment funds, custodians, rating agencies	SUGEVAL	Ley 7732
Pension funds and their managers	SUPEN	Ley 7523; Ley 7983
Insurance, reinsurance and intermediaries	SUGESE	Ley 8653
Money remitters, card issuers, non bank trust administrators, virtual asset providers (AML only)	SUGEF registration	Ley 7786 art. 15 and 15 quater
Card fees and the SINPE payment system	BCCR	Ley 9831; Ley 7558

Who supervises what in Costa Rica's financial system (Ley 7558, Ley 7732, Ley 8653, Ley 7786).

Worked example

A foreign group funds its Costa Rican subsidiary with a ₡500,000,000 local bank loan (US$1,099,336.00). The loan is in colones, made in November 2026, so the agreed rate plus every fee and commission folded into the rate must stay at or below 36.48% a year; default interest on bank loans is limited by Ley 1644 art. 70. Cash kept on deposit is guaranteed only up to ₡6,000,000 (US$13,192.03) per bank, so treasury balances above that carry bank risk.

Step by step

Map the activity to a supervisor before launching (lending with own funds, taking deposits, offering securities and selling insurance are regulated differently).
Price every loan against the BCCR cap for the semester in which it is signed.
Check the deposit guarantee limit when choosing where to hold cash.
For listings or bond issues, start with SUGEVAL and a puesto de bolsa.
Watch for the CONASSIF regulations under Ley 10973, due within six months of 7 Sep 2026.

Common traps

Lending only with your own money is not intermediation, but the usury caps still apply to you.
Calling a scheme a trust, club or platform does not avoid art. 116: what counts is habitually taking funds from the public.
The deposit guarantee covers principal only, not interest, and excludes deposits of shareholders, directors and group entities.

Sources

← Customs penalties and appeals in Costa Rica: fines in pesos centroamericanos, 50% reductions, contraband above US$5,000 and the Tribunal Aduanero NacionalBanks and financial entities in Costa Rica: licence, ₡12,000 million minimum capital, foreign bank branches →

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