1. Introduction
a. History and background
The Republic of Panama is located in the narrowest and most
central part of the American Continent and forms the isthmus that
links North and South America. Since its separation from Colombia
more than a century ago, Panama has taken advantage of its
privileged and strategic geographical position to develop an
important logistic and financial centre that provides all kinds of
services to the international trade. Not by chance, the famous
Panama Canal was built across 80 kilometres from north to south,
connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, thus becoming the
shortest maritime route between the north-eastern part of Asia, the
west coast of the United States and the west coast of South America
on the one hand, and the east coast of United States and Europe on
the other hand. The country’s population is 3.1 million. The
currency is the US Dollar (USD).
Panama also enjoys a sophisticated and well-regulated banking
system (in accordance with Basel Committee Principles and
Objectives) and hosts 89 private banks and 58 trust companies. The
system is supervised by the Superintendence of Banks.
b. Legal system
The country’s legal system is based on civil law tradition.
Despite that fact, the concept of trusts has been well received in
Panama, whose hybrid trust law introduced some basic principles
from the common law, while issues of trust ownership, trust
settlements, recognition and enforcement follow civil law. Panama’s
private interest foundation is a Roman/civil law tradition entity
with similarities to a trust and is used for estate-planning
purposes.
Dayra Berbey de Rojas TEP
Icaza, Gonzalez-Ruiz & Aleman, Panama
City, Panama
Luis Chalhoub TEP
Icaza, Gonzalez-Ruiz & Aleman, Panama
City, Panama
Ramses Owens TEP
Mossfon Trust Corp., Panama City,
Panama