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Countries › Peru › Guide › 13. Regulation › Anti money laundering in Peru: who must report to the UIF, compliance officer, customer due diligence, US$10,000 transaction register, 24 hour suspicious reports and laundering crimes

Anti money laundering in Peru: who must report to the UIF, compliance officer, customer due diligence, US$10,000 transaction register, 24 hour suspicious reports and laundering crimes

Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Stable

Banks, insurers, brokers and funds, and a long list of non financial businesses such as notaries, real estate, car dealers, casinos, customs agents, jewellers, money exchangers, mining companies and lenders, are obligated subjects that must run an AML system and report to the UIF Perú, the financial intelligence unit within the SBS. They must appoint a compliance officer, identify customers and their beneficial owners, log transactions of US$10,000 or more (or US$50,000 a month combined) and keep that log ten years, and report suspicious operations within 24 hours of classifying them, without tipping off the client. Laundering itself carries 8 to 15 years in prison, and companies can be liable under Ley Nº 30424.

USD figures use S/ 3.452 per US dollar, the banking system selling rate published by the Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP for 27 October 2026, from the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú statistics series PD04640PD. UIT based amounts use the 2026 UIT of S/ 5,500 set by Decreto Supremo Nº 301-2025-EF, as listed in the SUNAT UIT table. Fines expressed in UIT are paid at the UIT in force on the payment date. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Financial intelligence unitUIF Perú, within the SBS Ley Nº 29038 art. 1, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Operations register threshold, single operation (default)10,000 USDDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 24.4 a) (i), as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Operations register threshold, multiple operations in a month (default)50,000 USDDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 24.4 a) (ii), as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Operations register retention10 yearsDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 24.2, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Suspicious operation report after classification24 hoursDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 25.1, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Money laundering, basic prison range8 to 15 yearsDL Nº 1106 art. 1 to 3, as of 2026-10-28 · in force

The rule

1. The obligated subjects listed in the 2007 law include financial and insurance companies, credit and debit card issuers, savings and credit cooperatives, trustees and asset managers, securities brokers, fund managers, the stock exchange and other centralised trading mechanisms, the commodities exchange, sellers of vehicles, vessels and aircraft, construction and real estate businesses, casinos and gaming, bonded warehouses and customs agencies. Those that must report suspicious operations include foreign exchange dealers, couriers, antique dealers, jewellers and dealers in precious metals and stones, lenders and pawnbrokers, travel agencies, hotels and restaurants, notaries, auctioneers, recipients of donations, customs brokers, safe deposit services, controlled chemical suppliers, arms dealers, explosives makers, lobbyists and mining companies. Sector rules have since expanded and refined the list.
Cost to do it: Being an obligated subject triggers registration with the supervisor, a compliance officer and an AML manual.
Example: A Lima property developer selling apartments is an obligated subject under art. 3.1 j) and needs an AML system. / Foreign investors buying such a business inherit the obligation and should check its UIF registration and record.Ley Nº 29038, which incorporates the UIF Perú into the SBS (El Peruano, 12 June 2007), Art. 3.1 and 3.2, 2007-06-12 official text · verified 2026-10-28
2. The obligated subject must implement a prevention system (SPLAFT), general or reduced depending on its sector, and its board and management, or the general manager where there is no board, are responsible for it. It must appoint a compliance officer, a natural person who supervises the system and is the contact with the supervisor and the UIF. The officer must have relevant experience, no conviction for intentional crime, no debts overdue more than 120 days, no bankruptcy, and must not have been internal auditor of the subject in the previous six months. The subject needs an AML manual and, where applicable, an internal audit and an external audit of the system by a firm or team different from the financial statements auditor.
Cost to do it: Compliance officer salary or outsourcing, manual, training and audit fees; sector rules set the details.
Example: A car dealership appoints its finance manager as compliance officer after checking the art. 15 requirements by sworn statement and adopts a manual covering registers and reporting. / For a foreign group, the officer can be corporate only where sector regulation allows (art. 14.2).Reglamento de la Ley Nº 27693, Decreto Supremo Nº 020-2017-JUS (El Peruano, 6 October 2017), Art. 13, art. 14, art. 15, art. 16, art. 26 and art. 34, 2017-10-06 official text · verified 2026-10-28
3. Customer due diligence applies to all clients regardless of size or frequency. Obligated subjects must identify the beneficial owners of all products and services and take reasonable steps to verify their identity. If due diligence cannot be completed, they must not start the relationship or carry out the operation, or must end it, and consider a suspicious report; if due diligence would tip off a suspicious client, they report without carrying it out. They must also apply due diligence to their own directors and employees.
Cost to do it: Onboarding and verification systems.
Example: A notary asked to record a share transfer must identify the beneficial owner of the buyer company, even if it is a foreign holding. / A foreign fund investing through Luxembourg vehicles should expect Peruvian banks and notaries to ask for its ultimate beneficial owners.Reglamento DS Nº 020-2017-JUS, Art. 20, art. 21 and art. 22, 2017-10-06 official text · verified 2026-10-28
4. Unless a sector rule sets another threshold, the obligated subject must log in its operations register (RO) single client operations of US$10,000 or more, or the equivalent in soles or other currencies, and multiple operations by or for the same person in a calendar month that together reach US$50,000. The equivalent is computed at the average SBS daily selling rate of the previous month. Subjects can set lower internal thresholds. The register is confidential, sent to the SBS as required, and kept with a backup for ten years (sector rules can reduce this, never below five).
Cost to do it: Record keeping systems; no fee.
Example: A real estate company receiving a S/ 40,000 down payment logs it, since at about S/ 3.45 per dollar it exceeds US$10,000 (S/ 34,520 at S/ 3.452). / Ten monthly payments of US$6,000 from one buyer in a month total US$60,000 and must be logged as one operation.Reglamento DS Nº 020-2017-JUS, Art. 24.1 to 24.4, 2017-10-06 official text · verified 2026-10-28
5. Obligated subjects must report to the UIF Perú, through their compliance officer, any operation detected in their activities, carried out or attempted, that they consider suspicious, whatever the amount. The report must be immediate and in no case more than 24 hours after the operation is classified as suspicious, using the online ROSEL system. Shareholders, directors, officers, employees and related third parties may not disclose that information was requested by or provided to the UIF.
Cost to do it: No fee; investigation time and documentation.
Example: A currency exchange house that classifies a client's repeated cash purchases just under its internal threshold as suspicious on a Tuesday afternoon must file the report by Wednesday afternoon. / Telling the client about the report is prohibited, which can conflict with some foreign group policies on customer communication.Reglamento DS Nº 020-2017-JUS, Art. 25.1, art. 25.2 and art. 31.1, 2017-10-06 official text · verified 2026-10-28
6. Converting or transferring money, goods or proceeds whose illicit origin one knows or should presume, to avoid identification of their origin, seizure or confiscation, is punished with 8 to 15 years in prison and 120 to 350 day fines; the same applies to acquiring, holding, concealing or managing such assets and to moving cash or securities in or out of Peru with that aim. Penalties rise to 10 to 20 years when the offender uses a position as a public official or as an agent in the real estate, financial, banking or stock market sector, belongs to a criminal organisation, or the amount exceeds 500 UIT, and to at least 25 years for proceeds of illegal mining, drug trafficking, terrorism, kidnapping, extortion or trafficking in persons. Failing to report suspicious operations, in breach of one's functional duties, is a separate crime with four to eight years. Companies can be liable for these crimes under Ley Nº 30424.
Cost to do it: Prison for individuals; for companies, fines of two to six times the benefit or up to 10,000 UIT (S/ 55,000,000).
Example: A laundering scheme above 500 UIT (S/ 2,750,000) triggers the aggravated 10 to 20 year range. / 500 UIT is about US$796,640.Decreto Legislativo Nº 1106, de lucha eficaz contra el lavado de activos (El Peruano, 19 April 2012), text as published; Ley Nº 30424 art. 1 b) as amended by Ley Nº 31740, Art. 1, art. 2, art. 3, art. 4 and art. 5 of DL Nº 1106, 2012-04-19 official text · verified 2026-10-28
DutyRuleSource
Compliance officerMandatory, natural person, fit and proper requirementsDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 14 and 15
Beneficial ownerIdentify and verify for all clientsDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 20
Operations registerUS$10,000 single, US$50,000 monthly multipleDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 24.4
Retention10 years (sector minimum 5)DS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 24.2 and 24.3
Suspicious report24 hours after classification, via ROSELDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 25
No tipping offConfidentiality of UIF requests and reportsDS Nº 020-2017-JUS art. 31

Core duties of obligated subjects under Peru's AML regulation, absent stricter sector rules.

Worked example

  • A foreign investor buys a Peruvian car importer. The target is an obligated subject (vehicle sellers, Ley Nº 29038 art. 3.1 i)), so the buyer checks that it has a compliance officer, a manual, an operations register logging sales of US$10,000 or more (S/ 34,520 at S/ 3.452) and a record of suspicious reports filed within 24 hours. Gaps are both a regulatory risk and, if laundering occurs, a corporate liability risk under Ley Nº 30424.

Step by step

  1. Check whether the business is an obligated subject under Ley Nº 29038 and its sector rules, and register with the supervisor.
  2. Appoint a compliance officer meeting art. 15 and adopt an AML manual.
  3. Implement customer and beneficial owner due diligence, and know your employee checks.
  4. Configure the operations register at US$10,000 and US$50,000 monthly or stricter sector thresholds.
  5. Train staff to escalate unusual operations and file suspicious reports via ROSEL within 24 hours.
  6. Arrange internal and, where required, external audits of the system.

Common traps

  • Suspicious reports have no minimum amount.
  • Unfinished due diligence means not doing the deal, not doing it anyway.
  • Tipping off the client is prohibited.
  • Sector rules can set lower thresholds or different retention than the general regulation.

Sources

Related pages

Related: Peru country profile · live dashboard · central bank and release calendar · our posts on X

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