AML and KYC Compliance for Free Zone Companies

International trade, foreign customers and large invoices: the profile the regulator watches most closely. Document it once and keep it current.

Talk to us on WhatsApp See every service Estimate your costs

Non-financial obligated entities Audit-ready evidence Screening in seconds

COX gives a company operating in a free zone a due diligence file for every customer and supplier, wherever they are: identity or corporate documents read automatically, sanctions and PEP screening across the lists that matter in international trade, beneficial owners recorded and a risk score that reflects the country and the goods.

Where compliance hurts

Customers and suppliers are abroad and their documents come in other languages and formats
A sanctioned buyer or a vessel under embargo can appear in a routine order
Who really owns the company that pays is hidden behind layers of entities

Invoices are large, payments come from third countries and the origin is rarely documented
The free zone administration and the regulator each ask for their own evidence

Who is obligated, country by country

Free zones concentrate cross-border trade, and the companies that operate in them are named as obligated entities in Panama and treated as high risk by regulators elsewhere. Knowing the customer and the supplier is part of operating there.

Panama

Law 23 of 2015 lists the companies of the Colon Free Zone and of the other free zones among the non-financial obligated entities supervised by the Superintendency of Non-Financial Subjects.

Mexico

The LFPIORPI applies by activity rather than by location: foreign trade intermediation, vehicles, jewelry and other vulnerable activities keep their duties inside a customs regime.

Colombia

Free zone users supervised by the Superintendency of Companies adopt SAGRILAFT by activity and size, and foreign trade weighs in their risk.

Guatemala

The IVE registers the persons who perform designated non-financial activities under the law against money laundering; confirm whether your activity is on the current list.

Dominican Republic

Law 155-17 defines the non-financial obligated entities that the Financial Analysis Unit supervises; a free zone company should confirm its status by activity.

Venezuela

The organic law against organized crime and terrorism financing sets prevention duties that the sector regulator specifies for foreign trade.

Thresholds and reporting deadlines change: the platform reads the ones in force for your company's regime. Confirm your status with your regulator.

Why they choose COX

Lists that matter in trade

OFAC, the United Nations, the European Union and the United Kingdom in our own copies with their edition, plus vessels under sanction identified by hull.

Beneficial owners abroad

The corporate file records shareholders and controllers wherever they are, and each is screened as well.

Deep research when it is worth it

For a large new customer, an open-source investigation report with cited sources, adjudicated findings and a declared PEP status.

How It Works

Three steps from a new customer to a documented file

Collect

Send the customer a secure onboarding link. They upload their identity document, proof of address and source of funds from any device, and the platform reads the document for them.

Document reading and prefill
Selfie and liveness check
Beneficial owner declaration

Verify

Sanctions, PEP and restrictive lists are searched at once, adverse media on request, and the risk matrix scores the customer with the weights your policy sets.

Sanctions, PEP and watchlists
Risk matrix by country and activity
Enhanced due diligence when required

Document

Every search, decision and document stays in the file with its date and author. Print the due diligence report or the screening certificate when the regulator asks.

Immutable audit trail
Sealed PDF reports
Renewal reminders

Red flags the file has to document

Payments from a country other than the customer's or from unrelated third parties
Goods whose declared value does not match the market or the invoice
A customer company with no verifiable address, staff or activity
Routes, vessels or counterparties that appear on sanctions lists
Orders split or rerouted right after a screening returns a match

What the platform gives you

Everything a non-financial obligated entity needs, without a compliance department

Identity verification

Documents read automatically, selfie with liveness check and the data proposed for the officer to confirm.

List screening

Sanctions, PEP, restrictive and open-data lists, with a certificate that says which edition of each list was consulted.

Risk matrix

Country, activity, product, channel and PEP status weighted the way your manual says, with the result explained.

Adverse media

News about the customer ranked by how surely it names the same person, never a list of homonyms.

Due diligence files

Natural and legal persons, beneficial owners, related parties, documents with expiry dates and renewal alerts.

Reports for the regulator

Due diligence report, screening certificate and training records, each sealed with a verifiable fingerprint.

Built for

Importers and re-exporters

The core business of the Colon Free Zone

Logistics operators

Who stores and moves the goods of others

Manufacturers in free zones

Production for export under a special regime

Zone administrators

Who admits and supervises the companies of the zone

Encrypted storage

Full audit trail

Roles per user

Six countries covered

Frequently asked questions

Yes, if your policy or your regulator treats the supplier as a counterparty; in international trade a sanctioned supplier is as serious as a sanctioned buyer. COX keeps a file for both.

The United Nations, OFAC, the European Union and the United Kingdom in copies we ingest ourselves, with the edition consulted recorded, plus the regional lists and the vessels under sanction.

The platform reads identity documents and proposes the data; corporate documents are attached to the file and the beneficial owners are recorded by hand with their percentage.

The due diligence report and the screening certificate are sealed PDFs that say what was consulted and when; they can be printed for the zone and for the regulator.

Monthly plans give credits at a lower unit price for companies with volume; the calculator compares them with pay-per-use for your number of counterparties.

Know your next counterparty