Countries › Dominican Republic › Guide › 5. FX and capital controls › Foreign currency accounts and bank credit in the Dominican Republic: dollar deposits, the 25% cap and new risk weights
Foreign currency accounts and bank credit in the Dominican Republic: dollar deposits, the 25% cap and new risk weights
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Last verified: 2026-10-30 · Status: Changing
Multiple banks can take savings and term deposits in foreign currency and lend in it, and there is no ban on holding dollars. Since 2025 a bank's foreign currency credit to borrowers that do not earn foreign currency is capped at 25% of its foreign currency funding. New dollar mortgages and consumer loans are being run off, except credit cards.
USD figures use the Banco Central de la República Dominicana reference selling rate of RD$60.9007 per US dollar for 29 October 2026, as shown on its home page on the verification date, rounded to the cent.
Key facts
| Cap on bank FX credit to non generators | 25 % of FX fundingCircular SB CSB-REG-202500011 numeral 1, as of 2026-10-30 · in force |
|---|---|
| Foreign currency deposits of multiple banks | 16182.5 USD millionsInforme de la economía dominicana, as of 2026-03-31 · in force |
| Foreign currency assets of multiple banks | 19013.0 USD millionsInforme de la economía dominicana, as of 2026-03-31 · in force |
| Foreign currency share of multiple bank assets | 30.5 %Informe de la economía dominicana, as of 2026-03-31 · in force |
| Foreign currency share of multiple bank liabilities | 34.3 %Informe de la economía dominicana, as of 2026-03-31 · in force |
| Provision on excess over the cap at 31 December 2025 | 100 % of the excessCircular SB CSB-REG-202500011 numeral 14, as of 2026-10-30 · in force |
The rule
1. Multiple banks may take demand deposits in national currency, and savings and term deposits in national and foreign currency, and may lend in national and foreign currency.Ley 183-02 Monetaria y Financiera, art. 40 literals a and e, 2002-11-21 official text · verified 2026-10-30
2. Savings and credit banks and savings and loan associations take deposits in national currency, and may borrow abroad and lend in foreign currency only with prior Junta Monetaria authorization.Ley 183-02 Monetaria y Financiera; Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011, art. 42 literal r; art. 75; numeral 1 paragraph, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30
3. Banks may lend in foreign currency to non generators of foreign currency only up to 25% of their foreign currency funding from the public plus foreign currency borrowings.Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011, applying Primera Resolución JM of 13 March 2025, numeral 1, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30 · changed: Set by the Primera Resolución of 13 March 2025, which modified the Octava Resolución of 5 February 2004, with guidelines of 24 March and clarifications of 13 June 2025.
4. Excluded from the cap are import finance up to one year, credits to strategic sectors, personal credit card consumption and credits backed by flows from the Dominican State.Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011, numeral 1, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30
5. Non generators may get foreign currency credit only for commercial purposes and through consumer credit cards with a foreign currency balance.Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011, numeral 10, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30
6. Banks may not hold foreign currency consumer and home mortgage balances above those at 31 March 2025 and must run them down as they are repaid or expire. Credit cards are excepted.Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011, numeral 11, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30
7. A bank above the cap may not grant new foreign currency credit to non generators until it has room, and any excess at 31 December 2025 required provisions of 100% of the excess.Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011, numerals 13 and 14, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30
8. New risk weights of 8%, 30%, 60% and 150% apply to foreign currency loans to non generators, and foreign currency contingent operations with them use 1.5 times the weight for the same counterparty in pesos.Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011; Séptima Resolución JM of 13 June 2025, recitals; numeral 18, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30
9. A debtor reclassified as a non generator needs four consecutive quarters meeting the test to recover generator status.Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011, numeral 9, 2025-07-25 official text · verified 2026-10-30
10. No obligated institution may open accounts under false, coded or anonymous names, or in any way hiding the holder and final beneficiary.Ley 155-17 contra el Lavado de Activos, art. 61, 2017-06-01 official text · verified 2026-10-30
11. Exchange agents may keep accounts and deposits in local and foreign currency at domestic financial entities and hold foreign currency accounts with financial entities abroad.Reglamento Cambiario, Primera Resolución JM 250911-01, art. 17 literal a, 2025-09-11 official text · verified 2026-10-30
| Item | Figure | Change from March 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign currency deposits and funding from the public | US$16,182.5 million | Up US$1,977.5 million (13.9%) |
| Assets in foreign currency | US$19,013.0 million | Up US$1,969.9 million (11.6%) |
| Assets covering foreign currency reserve requirement | US$3,684.6 million | Down US$21.5 million (0.6%) |
| Reserve requirement position in foreign currency | US$448.1 million | Down US$417.1 million (48.2%) |
Foreign currency in multiple banks, March 2026
Worked example
- A bank with US$1,000 million of foreign currency funding (about RD$60,900.7 million) may hold at most US$250 million (about RD$15,225.2 million) of capped credit to non generators. A hotel with most of its income from abroad does not use that room. A retailer earning pesos does, unless the credit is import finance of up to one year.
Step by step
- Ask the bank how it classifies your company, and give it the external income evidence.
- For a peso earner, compare dollar credit with peso credit, since the higher risk weight feeds into price.
- Open the account with beneficial owner information ready.
- Exporters should keep evidence for the four quarter recovery test.
Common traps
- A company billed in dollars by local customers can still be a non generator: the test looks at income from the external sector, not the invoice currency.
- Dollar home loans for non generators are in run off, so foreign buyers earning abroad should expect to be asked about income source.
- The foreign currency reserve requirement coefficient was not verified in an official text in this review, so it is omitted here.
- Associations and savings and credit banks are outside the cap because they do not take foreign currency deposits, not because they offer dollar loans freely.
Sources
- Ley 183-02 Monetaria y Financiera, Superintendencia de Bancos copy
- Circular SB CSB-REG-202500011
- Banco Central, Informe de la economía dominicana, January to March 2026
- Ley 155-17, Superintendencia de Bancos copy
- Reglamento Cambiario, Primera Resolución de la Junta Monetaria of 11 September 2025
Related pages
- fx/foreign-loans-and-intercompany-debt
- fx/export-proceeds-and-import-payments
- fx/foreign-currency-contracts-and-payments
- taxes/bank-payment-tax
Related: Dominican Republic country profile · live dashboard · central bank and release calendar · our posts on X · where Argentina is involved, see The Argentine Thread guide
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