Interviews

In short: the Panamanian private interest foundation is a legal entity with no owner and no shareholders that receives assets and manages them according to rules set by whoever creates it. It serves to organise a succession, separate assets from personal wealth and group together companies, accounts and properties spread across several countries; it is not for running ordinary businesses or for small estates, and it is not "a magic tax-saving tool". That is how two lawyers from Legal Solutions Panamá explained it in an hour-long webinar on foundations and international structures, in which Kathia Rivera compared the foundation with…

In short: Panama has no specific factoring law, but it does have the pieces that make it viable: the assignment of receivables as the "backbone" of the transaction, the electronic invoicing law that recognises the invoice as a negotiable instrument, and a Superintendency that supervises, rather than regulates, the sector's companies on money laundering. That is how Kathia Rivera, president and founder of Legal Solutions Panamá, and Celideth Gudiño, financial services partner, explain it in a conversation recorded at the firm's offices in Panama City. Setting up a factoring company takes about seven days for the corporation, a month for…

In short: Panamanian law imposes no nationality or residency limits on incorporating a company, and neither directors nor shareholders have to travel. That is the answer given by Kathia Rivera Morales, founder and president of Legal Solutions Panamá, in a video on her channel where she answers the most frequent questions from people who want to set up a company in the country. Incorporation takes around a week with valid passports and two forms; the resident agent is the lawyer who registers the articles of incorporation and acts as the link between the shareholders and the State; the share capital…