Chile Fintech License: Does a Foreign Fintech Need a Chilean Entity and CMF Registration?

Both decisions rest on Article 5 of Law 21.521, which reserves the regulated services to entities registered in the CMF's Registro de Prestadores de Servicios Financieros (Registry of Financial Service Providers). Registration proves the applicant's identity and legal capacity and the absence of the disqualifications in Article 6. Before each service starts, Article 7 requires a specific authorization, in which the registrant proves its systems, operational capacity, corporate governance and, depending on the service, the guarantees and equity that service demands. The CMF's own guidance says so expressly: "La sola inscripción en el RPSF no habilita a la prestación de los servicios regulados por la Ley Fintec" (registration in the registry alone does not authorize the provision of the services regulated by the Fintec Law).

Both applications go through the CMF's paperless portal (CMF sin papel), with the supporting documents required by General Rule 502, in force since February 3, 2024 and amended by General Rules 524, of December 2, 2024, and 559, of February 9, 2026. The CMF charges 17 UF (unidades de fomento, Chile's inflation-indexed unit of account) for the registration application and nothing for the service authorization. An entity may register for one service and add others later, each with its own authorization (Article 7).

The authorization has one exception. Section II.G of General Rule 502, added by General Rule 524, releases from applying for it, and from complying with the provisions of that rule, a registrant that provides investment advice, credit advice, crowdfunding, order routing or an alternative trading system only to qualified investors, and that has no sanctions or pending charges for serious infringements in the last ten years. Registration remains mandatory (Article 4 of the law).

The services that require registration are in Article 5, and their definitions in Article 3:

• Crowdfunding platforms (plataformas de financiamiento colectivo): a physical or virtual place where those with investment projects or financing needs contact those with available funds, to facilitate the financing transaction.
• Alternative trading systems (sistemas alternativos de transacción): a place where participants quote, offer or trade financial instruments or publicly offered securities without being authorized as a stock or commodities exchange.
• Intermediation of financial instruments: buying or selling financial instruments for third parties, either by acquiring or disposing of them for its own account with the prior intention of selling them to or buying them from that third party, or in the client's name or on the client's behalf.
• Order routing: channeling third-party orders to buy or sell publicly offered securities or financial instruments to alternative trading systems, securities intermediaries or commodities exchange brokers.
• Credit advice: assessments or recommendations on the payment capacity or identity of persons for obtaining, modifying or renegotiating credit.
• Investment advice: assessments or recommendations on the advisability of investing in publicly offered securities, financial instruments or investment projects.
• Custody of financial instruments: holding, in its own name on behalf of third parties or in their name, financial instruments, and the money or currency arising from them or delivered to acquire them or to secure transactions in them.

Two definitions in Article 3 widen the perimeter. A financial instrument covers any title, contract, document or intangible asset designed, used or structured to generate monetary returns or to represent an outstanding debt or a virtual financial asset, and expressly includes unregistered securities, derivatives, contracts for difference and invoices; it excludes, however, publicly offered securities and money or currency. And a virtual financial asset is defined in the same article, so custody or trading of crypto assets is a regulated service when it matches one of the seven. Lending one's own funds, payment instruments and open finance participation fall outside the list. Prepaid payment instruments (medios de pago con provisión de fondos) follow Law 20.950, and open finance is governed by Title III of Law 21.521, which requires a separate registration for payment initiation service providers (Article 20).

Article 5 states that international companies providing the regulated services must be domiciled in Chile for that purpose. Article 6 adds that registration is available only to legal entities whose sole corporate purpose is providing one or more of those services, and Article 5 also allows the registrant to carry on the additional activities the CMF authorizes by general rule.

General Rule 502, as amended by General Rule 524, develops both rules under Article 4 of the law. A foreign entity that does not incorporate in Chile registers through a branch (agencia), and files the legalization, declaration and extract required by Articles 121 to 123 of Law 18.046 (Ley sobre Sociedades Anónimas, the Corporations Law) or Articles 447 to 449 of the Commercial Code (Código de Comercio) (Section I.A). That entity is exempt from the domicile requirement, and also from the sole-purpose requirement, if it provides the services in Chile only to qualified investors (Article 4 bis, letter f), of Law 18.045, Ley de Mercado de Valores, the Securities Market Law) and, in the last ten years, neither it, nor its business group, nor its controllers or managers have been sanctioned or charged for serious infringements, in Chile or for equivalent conduct abroad (Sections I.C.2 and I.C.3). In that case a declaration to the CMF is enough, without a branch. Registration is still required, and so is the authorization for intermediation and custody; the other five services are covered by the exception in Section II.G. The same rule waives the sole-purpose requirement for a provider that, among the regulated services, offers only advisory services, order routing, an alternative trading system or crowdfunding, and only to qualified investors (Section I.C.2).

Outside those exceptions, the lowest-friction solution is a Chilean single-purpose company, normally an SpA owned by the group, incorporated before the application is filed. A branch is a route the CMF accepts. Even so, the sole purpose is required of the registrant, and the rule does not expressly resolve how that requirement applies to a branch whose parent has other businesses; it is advisable to settle that with the CMF before filing. The sole purpose admits the activities General Rule 502 deems inherent (Section VII), including the development and commercialization of technology tools related to the authorized services; group functions beyond that perimeter stay in another entity or in the parent. The general comparison of both vehicles is in subsidiary vs branch.

These are the CMF-supervised entities that may provide certain services without registering, each under its own regime (Article 5):

• crowdfunding platforms and alternative trading systems: securities intermediaries (Law 18.045) and commodities exchanges and brokers (Law 19.220);
• order routing: general fund managers (administradoras generales de fondos, Law 20.712, Ley Única de Fondos), banks, securities intermediaries and commodities brokers;
• intermediation of financial instruments: banks, securities intermediaries and commodities brokers;
• credit advice: credit rating agencies (clasificadoras de riesgo);
• investment advice: securities intermediaries, general fund managers and portfolio managers, banks, insurers and reinsurers, and commodities brokers;
• custody of financial instruments: securities intermediaries, commodities brokers and exchanges, securities depository and custody companies (Law 18.876) and banks;
• other institutions supervised by and registered with the CMF that it authorizes by general rule. On that basis, General Rule 524 enabled stock exchanges to operate crowdfunding platforms and alternative trading systems, with prior notice to the CMF.

• Since February 9, 2026, General Rule 559 requires the non-bank entities in items 1 to 7 of Article 5 to inform the CMF through CMF Supervisa, before starting, of the services they will provide, without any need for registration or authorization. Banks are subject to the specific rule the CMF issues for intermediation and custody under item 7, and until it is issued they may not provide those services to the extent the General Banking Law (Ley General de Bancos) does not regulate them.
• The CMF may waive requirements, or set lighter forms of compliance (Article 4), when, because of the number or type of participants, the volume of transactions or the instruments, an entity does not compromise public trust (fe pública) or financial stability. The same article provides that the registration duty cannot be waived.
• A foreign group already licensed in its home country gets no recognition: the law contains no passporting or equivalence mechanism for Title II services. There are two cross-border routes. The first is the exception for providers serving only qualified investors (General Rule 502, Section I.C.3), which still requires registration. The second is narrower and covers only investment advice (General Rule 502, Section I.A, as amended by General Rule 524). Registration and authorization are not required from whoever gives that advice on behalf and in the name of a registered and authorized provider, a bank, an insurer, a securities intermediary, a commodities broker or a fund or portfolio manager. A legal entity qualifies only if the individuals who issue its recommendations meet General Rule 503.

Every registrant must design, approve and implement corporate governance and risk management policies proportionate to its size, including cybersecurity and information security (Article 12), and meet the information duties the CMF sets for its activity (Article 8). In investment advice and credit advice, the persons and systems that issue the recommendations or assessments must also meet the suitability standards of Article 9. The guarantee, where required, is a bank guarantee or insurance policy for the amount the CMF determines (Article 10). The minimum equity (patrimonio mínimo), where required, is set by the law at the greater of 5,000 UF and 3% of assets weighted by financial and operational risk, which the CMF may raise to 6% for entities with deficiencies in their risk management (Article 11). General Rule 502 classifies entities into three blocks by business volume and applies that figure only to the largest (Block 3). Block 2 entities need 1,000 UF in adjusted equity or guarantees for intermediation or custody, and 500 UF in guarantees for order routing; Block 1 entities are exempt (Section V.B). An entity that provides several services must meet the requirements of each, but the guarantee and equity requirements are not cumulative (Article 7).

• Registration: the CMF has 30 business days from the application to rule. If it asks digitally for errors or omissions to be corrected, the term is suspended until they are; once the defects are cured and that term has run, the CMF has 3 business days to rule and, where appropriate, enter the registration (Article 6).
• Authorization: the CMF has a maximum of 6 months from the application to grant or refuse each service authorization, with the same suspension while the application is corrected (Article 7).
• Deadline to apply for authorization: the CMF may cancel the registration of an entity that does not apply for authorization for any regulated activity within 12 months of its registration (Article 13).
• What the law does not set: the time to incorporate the Chilean company, obtain its RUT (Rol Único Tributario, the Chilean tax ID) and bank account, and prepare the policies, systems and financial information General Rule 502 asks for. That work runs before the CMF's deadlines and alongside them, and usually decides the launch date.

Providing a regulated service without registration, or without the authorization for that service, is the first serious infringement (infracción grave) listed in Article 14. Under Article 1 of Law 21.521, the CMF supervises these services with all the powers of Decree Law 3.538, its organic law. Article 37 of that decree law allows censure and fines of up to 100,000 UF, 30% of the value of the sanctioned transactions or twice the profits obtained. For a registered entity, the same classification also allows the registration to be canceled (Article 13) and bars a new one for ten years (Article 6). The CMF may cancel the registration of a registrant that provides unauthorized services (Article 13); it may suspend the authorization of a registered entity that does not meet the requirements of an activity, or when the protection of investors, public trust or financial stability requires it (Article 7). The commercial effect usually comes first: Chilean banks, investors and counterparties usually ask for proof of registration before contracting. For the Chilean operator, the same question is covered in do I need to register with the CMF?, and the seven services, one by one, in the regulated activities under the Fintec Law.

• Classify the product against the seven services and decide which of them the entity will actually apply for. Each adds requirements and, as a rule, its own authorization.
• Unless you use the qualified-investor exception, incorporate the Chilean single-purpose company or establish the branch the CMF accepts; in the latter case, settle with the CMF beforehand how the sole-purpose requirement applies. Obtain the entity's RUT and bank account, and keep outside it any functions that are not regulated services, inherent activities or activities authorized by the CMF. The general path is in Doing Business in Chile and the choice of vehicle in company formation in Chile.
• File the registration and the authorization for each service, with the policies and evidence General Rule 502 requires. The rule allows them to be filed together or once the entity is registered, and the CMF recommends processing them in parallel. Services covered by the exception in Section II.G need no authorization, but registration remains mandatory.
• Comply in parallel with the other regimes:

• Anti-money laundering: Article 3 of Law 19.913, as amended by Article 36 of Law 21.521, refers to those registered in the Registry of Financial Service Providers and in the Registry of Payment Initiation Service Providers (Registro de Proveedores de Servicios de Iniciación de Pagos). Those that provide crowdfunding, an alternative trading system, custody or intermediation of financial instruments, or payment initiation must report suspicious transactions to the Financial Analysis Unit (Unidad de Análisis Financiero, UAF).
• Data protection: Law 19.628 governs today. The amendments made by Law 21.719 take effect on December 1, 2026, and a bill at the first stage in the Senate (Bulletin 18.623-07) proposes to postpone them to December 1, 2027. Once in force, they will apply to any fintech that processes personal data.
• Cybersecurity: the Cybersecurity Framework Law (Ley Marco de Ciberseguridad, Law 21.663) treats banking, financial services and means of payment as essential services, requires them to adopt security measures and to report incidents with significant effects to the National CSIRT, with an early warning within 3 hours, and reserves its most demanding duties for operators of vital importance (operadores de importancia vital).
• Open finance: open finance has its own regime in Title III of Law 21.521. Banks, card issuers and the other supervised institutions the CMF designates must participate as information providers (Article 18). Information-based service providers register voluntarily (Article 19), and payment initiation service providers register in their own registry (Article 20).