Opening a Bank Account in Panama
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Argentina on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Argentina to Panama · Opening a bank account
Panama's banking regulator rewrote its anti-money-laundering rulebook in January 2026, and the new agreement repeals the 2015 one every guide still cites. For a foreigner the identity document is the passport, and what the bank must keep is narrow and specific: the pages with your photograph, signature and particulars, and the page carrying the entry stamp into Panama. That stamp requirement is the quiet barrier - it does not apply where the bank recruited you abroad, through a group affiliate or through an international-licence bank, but it does apply to someone walking into a branch. A national identity document from your own country is acceptable only in defined cases, and the document has to be current when the account is opened.
At a glance
- Identity document for a foreigner
- Passport
- Entry-stamp page
- Required
Waived where the customer was recruited abroad, through a group affiliate, or by an international-licence bank.
- Rulebook in force
- Acuerdo 1-2026as of 2026-01-16
Repeals Acuerdo 10-2015 and all its amendments, Acuerdo 1-2013, Acuerdo 8-2000 and Acuerdo 10-2000.
- When it took effect
- 6 months after promulgation
- Adaptation period for the identity rules
- Until 30 June 2027
Article 53 of the agreement gives banks until that date to bring existing customer files into line with article 14.
- Expired passport
- Must be renewed by the customer
Requirements
- A valid passport, current at the time the account is opened
- Copies of the passport pages with your photograph, signature and particulars, and of the page with the Panamanian entry stamp
- Contact details, an address and the information the bank needs for its own risk profile
- A national identity document from your country of origin is acceptable only in defined cases, such as where the bank can verify it with the issuing authority after the Superintendency has assessed the arrangement
- An expired passport must be replaced by the customer; the bank cannot refresh it from a database the way it can with a Panamanian identity card
In detail
The entry stamp is the thing that decides where you can open the account
The regulator's identity rule for foreigners is short and it contains a condition that most summaries drop: along with the photograph and particulars pages, the bank must keep a copy of the passport page carrying the Panamanian entry stamp. That turns account opening into something you do after arriving, at least for the ordinary case. The agreement then carves out three situations where the stamp is not needed - the customer was recruited on a visit abroad, recruited by an agent of an affiliated group entity, or taken on by a bank holding an international licence. A non-resident can therefore be banked in Panama without ever having been there, but through one of those channels rather than by walking in.
A new rulebook, and a year to adapt
Acuerdo 1-2026 was adopted on 16 January 2026, takes effect six months after promulgation, and repeals Acuerdo 10-2015 outright together with every amendment made to it and three older agreements. Anyone comparing Panamanian bank requirements against guidance written before 2026 is reading a repealed instrument. Banks have until 30 June 2027 to bring existing customer files into line with the new identity article, so during 2026 and 2027 two standards will coexist: the new one for new accounts and the old files being migrated.
Country-level policy
Panamanian statutes and decrees write money in balboas, with the symbol B/. - a tourist must show B/.500, a pensioner needs B/.1,000 a month, the own-means route costs B/.300,000. None of those is a sum you would ever need to convert. Panama has no circulating banknote of its own: its Constitution forbids forced-tender paper money, and what circulates is the United States dollar, with the balboa surviving as coinage and as the unit in which the law is written. The migration regulation makes the equivalence operational without ever stating it: where an applicant's document is in a foreign currency, the regulation requires a conversion into dollars, while every threshold it sets is expressed in balboas.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Argentina
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Cuando se trate de un extranjero, el documento de identidad idóneo será el pasaporte. Para
satisfacer el requisito de pasaporte, solo será necesario conservar copia de la(s) página(s)
donde aparezca la fotografía, firma y generales del cliente y la página donde se encuentre
estampado el sello de ingreso al país.»Our translation - not official
Where the customer is a foreigner, the appropriate identity document shall be the passport. To satisfy the passport requirement it is only necessary to keep a copy of the page or pages showing the customer's photograph, signature and particulars, and the page bearing the stamp of entry into the country.
About this source
Panama's banking supervisor. It issues the Acuerdos that bind banks on customer due diligence, and its current one repealed the rulebook almost all published guidance still describes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It sets the regulatory floor and says nothing about what any individual bank requires: reference letters, a local tax number and proof of income are commonly demanded above the minimum and are facts about that bank. Note also that two different instruments are published under the same file name in different directories, so a citation must carry the full path.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«En el caso de clientes que hayan sido captados por
el banco o empresa fiduciaria a través de visitas en el extranjero o cuando la captación se
lleve a cabo por gestores de entidades afiliadas al grupo, o que la vinculación sea realizada
por bancos con licencia internacional, no aplicará el requisito de copia de la página del
pasaporte en la cual se encuentre estampado el sello de ingreso al país.»Our translation - not official
In the case of customers recruited by the bank or trust company through visits abroad, or where recruitment is carried out by agents of affiliated entities of the group, or where the relationship is established by banks holding an international licence, the requirement of a copy of the passport page bearing the country entry stamp shall not apply.
The exception defines the rule: a non-resident who never entered Panama can be onboarded, but through a channel rather than at a counter.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Panama's banking supervisor. It issues the Acuerdos that bind banks on customer due diligence, and its current one repealed the rulebook almost all published guidance still describes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It sets the regulatory floor and says nothing about what any individual bank requires: reference letters, a local tax number and proof of income are commonly demanded above the minimum and are facts about that bank. Note also that two different instruments are published under the same file name in different directories, so a citation must carry the full path.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Tratándose de
pasaportes vencidos los mismos deberán ser actualizados por el cliente.»Our translation - not official
In the case of expired passports, these must be updated by the customer.
A Panamanian's expired identity card can be refreshed by the bank from the Electoral Tribunal's database; a foreigner's passport cannot, so the obligation falls on the customer.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Panama's banking supervisor. It issues the Acuerdos that bind banks on customer due diligence, and its current one repealed the rulebook almost all published guidance still describes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It sets the regulatory floor and says nothing about what any individual bank requires: reference letters, a local tax number and proof of income are commonly demanded above the minimum and are facts about that bank. Note also that two different instruments are published under the same file name in different directories, so a citation must carry the full path.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«El presente Acuerdo deroga en todas sus partes el Acuerdo
No. 10-2015 y todas sus modificaciones, el Acuerdo No. 1-2013, el Acuerdo 8-2000 y el Acuerdo
10-2000.»Our translation - not official
This Agreement repeals in all its parts Agreement No. 10-2015 and all its amendments, Agreement No. 1-2013, Agreement 8-2000 and Agreement 10-2000.
Worth recording because almost every published guide to banking in Panama still describes Acuerdo 10-2015.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Panama's banking supervisor. It issues the Acuerdos that bind banks on customer due diligence, and its current one repealed the rulebook almost all published guidance still describes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It sets the regulatory floor and says nothing about what any individual bank requires: reference letters, a local tax number and proof of income are commonly demanded above the minimum and are facts about that bank. Note also that two different instruments are published under the same file name in different directories, so a citation must carry the full path.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«El presente Acuerdo empezará a regir en un plazo de seis (6) meses
contados a partir de su promulgación.»Our translation - not official
This Agreement shall come into force within a period of six (6) months counted from its promulgation.
About this source
Panama's banking supervisor. It issues the Acuerdos that bind banks on customer due diligence, and its current one repealed the rulebook almost all published guidance still describes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It sets the regulatory floor and says nothing about what any individual bank requires: reference letters, a local tax number and proof of income are commonly demanded above the minimum and are facts about that bank. Note also that two different instruments are published under the same file name in different directories, so a citation must carry the full path.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«las entidades bancarias tendrán un plazo de adecuación hasta
el 30 de junio de 2027»Our translation - not official
banking institutions shall have an adaptation period until 30 June 2027
About this source
Panama's banking supervisor. It issues the Acuerdos that bind banks on customer due diligence, and its current one repealed the rulebook almost all published guidance still describes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It sets the regulatory floor and says nothing about what any individual bank requires: reference letters, a local tax number and proof of income are commonly demanded above the minimum and are facts about that bank. Note also that two different instruments are published under the same file name in different directories, so a citation must carry the full path.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This is the supervisor's rulebook, not a bank's terms. It sets the minimum a bank must do; individual banks impose more - reference letters, a Panamanian tax identification, proof of income - and those are facts about each bank rather than about Panamanian law. We did not read any individual bank's account-opening conditions.
The agreement is addressed to general-licence banks, international-licence banks and trust companies. Nothing here describes credit unions, finance companies or the payment institutions supervised elsewhere.
Nothing in the identity article requires a residence permit, a Panamanian address or a local tax number to open an account. That is an absence in Acuerdo 1-2026, not a statement that no bank asks for them.
- issuesAcuerdo No. 1-2026 de 16 de enero de 2026, prevención del uso indebido de los servicios bancarios y fiduciarios
Superintendencia de Bancos de Panamá
About this source
Panama's banking supervisor. It issues the Acuerdos that bind banks on customer due diligence, and its current one repealed the rulebook almost all published guidance still describes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It sets the regulatory floor and says nothing about what any individual bank requires: reference letters, a local tax number and proof of income are commonly demanded above the minimum and are facts about that bank. Note also that two different instruments are published under the same file name in different directories, so a citation must carry the full path.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source