Reform of the Regulations of the Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Transactions with Funds from Illicit Sources and its implications.

Reform and Background:

On March 27, 2026, the "Decree amending various provisions of the Regulations of the Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Operations with Resources of Illicit Origin" (the "Decree" and the "Regulations") was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation ("DOF"), with the intention of aligning the Regulations with the reform of the Law ("LFPIORPI"), which occurred in July 2025.

The reform of the Regulations entered into force as of March 28, 2026, and its application will entail several adjustments and clarifications regarding the current compliance with Anti-Money Laundering ("AML") obligations, as it had not been modified since its original publication on August 16, 2013.

This is the second relevant change to the AML legal framework since the LFPIORPI reform, with the harmonization of the general rules according to the July 2025 reform still pending. As of the publication date of this note, these rules have not been modified, as the Legislator granted the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit a 12-month period following said reform to modify them, which will conclude on July 17, 2026.

Most Relevant Changes:

A) Vulnerable Activities

Since the LFPIORPI reform, it was established that vulnerable activities can be configured even by those acting through trusts or any other legal entity, which was reflected in the Regulations, stating that even trusts and other entities must be registered in the Federal Taxpayer Registry, as well as use the Advanced Electronic Signature to process their registration in the anti-money laundering portal.

It was established that the vulnerable activity of mutual or granting of loans or credits, with or without collateral, would be considered carried out upon the availability of resources to the client, and not only upon the signing of the corresponding contract, instrument, or credit title.

B) Identification of Transaction Value and Accumulation

To determine the amount of the value of the acts or transactions to be reported, contributions or accessories should not be considered; however, it was specified that, for the purposes of submitting notices, the total amount of transactions must be reported, including contributions and accessories, without the need for a breakdown.

As an exception, it was clarified that in transactions or activities that have cash and metal use restrictions under Article 32 of the LFPIORPI, the contributions or accessories generated must be considered to determine the transaction amount.

The accumulation process was clarified, determining that transactions involving vulnerable activities with each client, for each type of act or transaction, would be considered, updating the submission of a notice whenever they jointly equal or exceed the notice thresholds established in the Law, considering only those transactions that are identifiable for a period of up to six months. When vulnerable activities do not include identification thresholds, it will be understood that any transaction is identifiable and accumulation must be carried out.

C) Obligations of Obligated Parties

To align the obligations established in Article 18 of the LFPIORPI with these Regulations and their equivalence in the regulation for financial entities, the obligation to have an annual audit report, performed by an internal or external auditor, was reinforced. This report must be maintained along with evidence of the corrective actions identified, aligning with the provisions of Article 18 of the LFPIORPI, subject to the issuance of General Rules.

It is foreseen that obligated parties may identify and know their clients or users directly through simplified measureswhen those who perform them are considered low risk; however, it was specified that the terms and conditions for their application will be detailed in the General Rules. Similarly, it was established that through the General Rules, exceptions would be set to comply with the obligation to identify the Controlling Beneficiary depending on the type of client involved.

The benefit of abstention or reduction of fines referred to in the Law is regulated, provided that the fault committed is expressly recognized before the authority within the initial period of the verification procedure or within the sanctioning procedure through a free-form brief detailing all the faults incurred, the transaction, and the period, as well as demonstrating correction with supporting documentation (such as acknowledgments of notice submission, identification files of clients, users, beneficiaries, and transactions, among others).

An important clarification is that, according to the Seventh Transitory Article of the Decree, obligated parties must retain information on vulnerable activities for 10 years regarding transactions carried out as of July 17, 2025, the date of publication of the LFPIORPI reform, whereas previously the obligation was only for 5 years.

Special consideration is given to the Fourth Transitory Article of this reform Decree, which states that obligated parties must comply with the general rules referred to in the LFPIORPI in effect as of July 17, 2025, as well as their subsequent amendments. That is, for compliance with general AML obligations, the general rules published on August 23, 2013, in the Official Gazette, as well as their amendments of July 24 and 31, 2014, and November 30, 2020, must continue to be applied.

D) Authority Powers

The verification powers of the Financial Intelligence Unit (“UIF”) and the Tax Administration Service (“SAT”) to verify compliance are regulated and reinforced, providing more support to the authorities' powers, as the information contained in files, documents, or databases to which the SAT has access or provided by other authorities may serve to motivate resolutions. Furthermore, the authority is free to justify which databases it consulted regarding information generated or provided by the individual. It is even expressly stated that the content of tax receipts will be presumed true to determine the existence of vulnerable activities.

E) Politically Exposed Persons

Chapter Six Bis relating to the list of Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) was added. This chapter mentions that the UIF will be responsible for integrating the list, and it is the obligation of obligated parties in the financial sector and vulnerable activities to verify if the persons with whom they conduct operations are on the list, according to the guidelines issued by the UIF.

It is relevant to consider that, in order to carry out the mentioned inquiries, the technical requirements set in the General Rules, which are still pending publication, must be met. In this sense, various authorities of the three branches and levels of government, as well as autonomous bodies, within their respective competencies, must provide the PEP information as well as the corresponding updates whenever a change occurs.

Baker Tilly has a specialized team in anti-money laundering that can advise you on the proper fulfillment of your administrative obligations to avoid any type of sanction.