- Domiciles
- Panama
Domicile · Latin America
Panama.
Panama is the hub of the Latin America region and the jurisdiction where the region's trade finance is booked. IGUAKO Capital (Panamá) S.A. was registered in 2022, and Cinta Costera Tower has been the base of Rafael Quintero-Blyth, Head of Expansion, since the office opened. Eleven people work here, including the regional compliance team and the secretariat of the Expansion Committee. The jurisdiction was chosen for three properties: a dollar economy, a legal system accustomed to cross-border commerce, and a position on the routes that carry biological and agricultural goods between the two oceans.
- People in Panama City
- 11
- Trade finance facilities outstanding
- US$58 million to 41 borrowers
- Client portfolio attributed
- US$30 million of the Latin America total of US$47 million
- Correspondent relationships on the isthmus routes
- 13
- Local entity
- IGUAKO Capital (Panamá) S.A.
- Entity type
- Sociedad anónima
- Role
- Regional hub and trade finance
- City
- Panama City
- Currency
- Panamanian balboa (PAB), at par with the US dollar, which circulates as legal tender
- Time zone
- Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5), no daylight saving
- Languages
- Spanish; client documentation is issued in Spanish and English
- Region
- Latin America
Presence
Regional hub at Level 18, Cinta Costera Tower, Panama City: eleven people, the base of Rafael Quintero-Blyth, Head of Expansion, with Ximena Arrieta-Lindsay as Head of Office.
Why this domicile
- A dollar economy in which facilities can be written, funded and repaid without a currency layer.
- The isthmus trade routes, along which the biological and agricultural goods the group finances actually move.
- A territorial tax system that taxes only income arising in the jurisdiction, which suits a hub whose income arises across a region.
- Two hours' flight from Miami and from the Caribbean domiciles, and a common working day with George Town.
Latitude Trade Finance (Panamá) S.A. books the facilities that Miami, Mexico City and São Paulo originate. At 30 June 2026, US$58 million was outstanding to 41 borrowers, every facility denominated in US dollars, secured on receivables or goods in transit and carrying an average tenor of 120 days. Funding comes from a regional treasury line drawn on George Town, and settlement runs through Banco Cordillera Atlántica and twelve further correspondent banks along the isthmus routes. Facilities above US$5 million go to the Risk & Valuation Committee.
Client portfolio attributed to Panama stood at US$30 million of the Latin America total of US$47 million, the balance being attributed to Brazil and Mexico. The Panama figure is the participations three regional institutional co-lenders hold in the booked facilities, together with the treasury balances of two institutions that settle through the hub. Capital earned in the region does not stay in it: proceeds from Brazilian and Mexican positions pass through Panama and Curaçao on their way to deployment in Europe, North America and the Gulf.
Programme Latitude is planned in this building. The 2031 Latin America phase, which scales the Panama hub, expands São Paulo and Mexico City and converts the Montevideo desk to an office, is prepared here under the Expansion Committee, and the office keeps the model that shows where the realised proceeds funding each phase are expected to arise. Regional onboarding is run from Panama City so that a client of any Latin American office is identified once, to one standard, in Spanish and English.
Services booked here
- Regional management of São Paulo, Mexico City, Montevideo and the Miami gateway
- Booking of trade finance facilities originated across the Americas
- Regional treasury drawn on George Town and settled through Banco Cordillera Atlántica
- Regional compliance and client onboarding for Latin America
- Secretariat of the Expansion Committee and planning for Programme Latitude
- Correspondent relationships along the isthmus trade routes
Local entities
The register.
| Entity | Purpose |
|---|---|
| IGUAKO Capital (Panamá) S.A. | Regional hub and services entity for Latin America, 2022 |
| Latitude Trade Finance (Panamá) S.A. | Registered non-deposit-taking financial company booking trade finance, 2022 |
| Cinta Costera Holdings S.A. | Holding company for regional positions and treasury, 2023 |
Regulatory approach
Latitude Trade Finance (Panamá) S.A. is registered with the relevant local authority as a financial company that lends without taking deposits, files a quarterly report of facilities, arrears and provisions, and maintains the minimum capital that registration requires. IGUAKO Capital (Panamá) S.A. provides regional management and services to the group and carries out no regulated activity. Both entities register their beneficial owners with the jurisdiction's private registry of beneficial ownership through their resident agent, as the law requires, and both are subject to the jurisdiction's anti-money-laundering supervision through the authority that oversees non-bank financial companies. No Panama entity is a bank, holds client securities or offers anything to the public. The regional compliance officer for Latin America sits in this office and reports to the General Counsel in London, and the local boards meet in Panama City each quarter.
Regulatory notices
Six notices for Panama.
Each notice combines the group standard with the provisions that apply in this jurisdiction.
Also in the region