2026-10-04Finding
Paraguay's regulator permits what every guide calls impossible
Relocation agencies are unanimous that you must be in Paraguay in person to open a bank account. The regulation says the whole procedure may be carried out remotely.
The reglamento for basic savings accounts, adopted by the banking supervisor in April 2026, says an account may be opened on the sole presentation of an identity document, under the simplified due diligence regime. It then says, in its own words, that the procedure may be carried out either in person or remotely.
There is no minimum to open and no minimum balance to maintain. Set against the other countries we cover, that is a remarkable position: Uruguay's state bank asks a non-resident for five thousand dollars locked for a hundred and eighty-one days, Colombia and Ecuador both want a local identity card first, and Ecuador's state bank will not accept that card unless it sits on a temporary visa of at least two years.
Two limits keep this honest and they are in the record rather than buried. The account is in guaraníes only. And monthly credits are capped at whatever the financial intelligence unit sets for the simplified regime - a figure the reglamento points at rather than states, which is why we do not state it either. Above that ceiling the holder is sent to a conventional account and the full due diligence that goes with it.
The gap between an instrument that contemplates opening an account before you arrive and a body of advice that says it cannot be done is the kind of thing this site exists to find.
What this rests on
What a regulator permits is not what a bank will do. The reglamento is the supervisor's rule for the banks it supervises, not an undertaking that any one of them will open the account, and the Paraguayan banking record says so in its own terms.
What the instruments say
«La apertura de una cuenta básica de ahorro podrá realizarse con la sola presentación del documento de identidad y recabando los datos básicos del solicitante aplicables para el régimen simplificado de debida diligencia establecido por la SEPRELAD.»Our translation - not official
A basic savings account may be opened on the sole presentation of the identity document and by collecting the applicant's basic data applicable to the simplified due diligence regime established by SEPRELAD.
It says identity document, not Paraguayan cédula. Whether a foreign passport satisfies it is settled by SEPRELAD's simplified regime, which has not been read here, so this record does not answer that.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Paraguay's central bank and its banking supervisor. It issues the reglamentos that bind supervised financial institutions, each one adopted by a numbered resolution of a dated Acta, and publishes them as the signed resolution rather than as a consolidated code.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes resolutions one at a time, as adopted, with no consolidated text and no index of what a later resolution replaced. The reglamento for basic savings accounts of 2024 cites the 2013 resolution it supersedes in its own recitals, which is the only way to tell; an older file on the site stays reachable and reads as current. It also legislates for the supervised entity rather than for the customer: a reglamento says what a bank may and must do, never what a bank will do, and the thresholds it defers to - SEPRELAD's simplified due diligence limits - are set by a different body and are not reproduced here.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«El trámite para su apertura podrá ser realizado tanto en forma presencial como remota.»Our translation - not official
The procedure for opening it may be carried out either in person or remotely.
About this source
Paraguay's central bank and its banking supervisor. It issues the reglamentos that bind supervised financial institutions, each one adopted by a numbered resolution of a dated Acta, and publishes them as the signed resolution rather than as a consolidated code.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes resolutions one at a time, as adopted, with no consolidated text and no index of what a later resolution replaced. The reglamento for basic savings accounts of 2024 cites the 2013 resolution it supersedes in its own recitals, which is the only way to tell; an older file on the site stays reachable and reads as current. It also legislates for the supervised entity rather than for the customer: a reglamento says what a bank may and must do, never what a bank will do, and the thresholds it defers to - SEPRELAD's simplified due diligence limits - are set by a different body and are not reproduced here.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«3.1 No requieren un monto mínimo de apertura ni saldo promedio mínimo de mantenimiento.»Our translation - not official
3.1 They require no minimum amount to open and no minimum average balance to maintain.
About this source
Paraguay's central bank and its banking supervisor. It issues the reglamentos that bind supervised financial institutions, each one adopted by a numbered resolution of a dated Acta, and publishes them as the signed resolution rather than as a consolidated code.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes resolutions one at a time, as adopted, with no consolidated text and no index of what a later resolution replaced. The reglamento for basic savings accounts of 2024 cites the 2013 resolution it supersedes in its own recitals, which is the only way to tell; an older file on the site stays reachable and reads as current. It also legislates for the supervised entity rather than for the customer: a reglamento says what a bank may and must do, never what a bank will do, and the thresholds it defers to - SEPRELAD's simplified due diligence limits - are set by a different body and are not reproduced here.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«3.3 Serán de uso exclusivo en Moneda Local.»Our translation - not official
3.3 They are for use in local currency only.
About this source
Paraguay's central bank and its banking supervisor. It issues the reglamentos that bind supervised financial institutions, each one adopted by a numbered resolution of a dated Acta, and publishes them as the signed resolution rather than as a consolidated code.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes resolutions one at a time, as adopted, with no consolidated text and no index of what a later resolution replaced. The reglamento for basic savings accounts of 2024 cites the 2013 resolution it supersedes in its own recitals, which is the only way to tell; an older file on the site stays reachable and reads as current. It also legislates for the supervised entity rather than for the customer: a reglamento says what a bank may and must do, never what a bank will do, and the thresholds it defers to - SEPRELAD's simplified due diligence limits - are set by a different body and are not reproduced here.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«El monto máximo de acreditaciones mensuales será el equivalente al límite aplicable al Régimen Simplificado de Debida Diligencia en el conocimiento de sus clientes, de conformidad con lo establecido en las reglamentaciones vigentes de la SEPRELAD.»Our translation - not official
The maximum amount of monthly credits shall be the equivalent of the limit applicable to the Simplified Customer Due Diligence Regime, in accordance with SEPRELAD's regulations in force.
The ceiling is a pointer, not a figure. Stating a number here would mean taking it from a regulation we have not read.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Paraguay's central bank and its banking supervisor. It issues the reglamentos that bind supervised financial institutions, each one adopted by a numbered resolution of a dated Acta, and publishes them as the signed resolution rather than as a consolidated code.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes resolutions one at a time, as adopted, with no consolidated text and no index of what a later resolution replaced. The reglamento for basic savings accounts of 2024 cites the 2013 resolution it supersedes in its own recitals, which is the only way to tell; an older file on the site stays reachable and reads as current. It also legislates for the supervised entity rather than for the customer: a reglamento says what a bank may and must do, never what a bank will do, and the thresholds it defers to - SEPRELAD's simplified due diligence limits - are set by a different body and are not reproduced here.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
- issuesReglamento de las Cuentas Básicas de Ahorro - Resolución N° 5, Acta N° 13 de 4 de abril de 2024
Banco Central del Paraguay - Superintendencia de Bancos
About this source
Paraguay's central bank and its banking supervisor. It issues the reglamentos that bind supervised financial institutions, each one adopted by a numbered resolution of a dated Acta, and publishes them as the signed resolution rather than as a consolidated code.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes resolutions one at a time, as adopted, with no consolidated text and no index of what a later resolution replaced. The reglamento for basic savings accounts of 2024 cites the 2013 resolution it supersedes in its own recitals, which is the only way to tell; an older file on the site stays reachable and reads as current. It also legislates for the supervised entity rather than for the customer: a reglamento says what a bank may and must do, never what a bank will do, and the thresholds it defers to - SEPRELAD's simplified due diligence limits - are set by a different body and are not reproduced here.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source