New Regulation for Market Agents, PSPs, and SME Platforms

On January 8, 2025, the Argentine Securities Commission (CNV) issued General Resolution 1048, which has as its precedent the public consultations made through General Resolutions 983 and 1015.

This Resolution regulates the performance of Settlement Agents (ALyC), Trading Agent (AN), and Global Investment Advisor (AAGI). It also addresses client referral processes, advertising of services via third parties, and the routing of orders between entities registered before the CNV, the Argentine Central Bank, and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).

The CNV emphasized that the implementation of technological systems enables agents to offer services in a much more agile and simple way, while accessing a wider range of potential clients, thus simplifying and streamlining the traditional investment scheme, and making visible a wide range of alternatives to expand the publication, dissemination and offering channels. It should be noted that, on occasions, these systems and their underlying economic and contractual links are carried out with entities that are not under the CNV's regulatory scope.

The Resolution’s primary objective is to strengthen and simplify access to the financial system, enabling users to operate comprehensively and efficiently. It aims to foster interconnection among financial system participants, integrate new technological tools, and enhance user experience, improving competitiveness and promoting the development of the capital market.

Additionally, following the amendments Law 27739 introduced to the Argentine Criminal Code Amendment Law and the provisions of General Resolution 994, the CNV incorporated the Registry of Virtual Asset Service Providers (PSAV) into its regulations, establishing parameters for interactions between the parties registered in the Registry and the ALyC.

 

Key provisions under the Resolution include:

 

1. ANs, ALyCs, and AAGIs may refer clients to other entities registered in the CNV VAPs Registry.
2. ALyCs may also refer clients to
    
   1. Payment Service Providers (PSP),
   2. Platforms for SME financing,
   3. Financial institutions registered before and regulated by the BCRA.

Client referencing involves agents connecting clients with the entities above, with which agreements have been signed. Agents are not responsible for clients' potential investments or investment decisions.

ALyCs can also receive clients referred by:
 

1. third parties registered before the CNV, including those performing advisory, management, brokerage, and/or negotiation activities, as well as agents related to the same economic group (controlling, controlled, and related parties),
2. financial entities, PSP, and/or platforms for SME financing, according to the corresponding legal regimes established by the BCRA,
3. those who exclusively refer or link clients to the ALyC.

 

Regarding advertising and/or dissemination actions, agents may use traditional media (publications, radio, and television broadcasts, etc.) and/or digital media, and must respect the scope of their corporate purpose, according to their registration category.

Likewise, the Resolution regulates advertising and/or dissemination actions through third parties. The agreement entered into for advertising must be made available to the CNV and may only be entered into with:

1. Third parties registered before the CNV, including those agents related to the same economic group, controlling, controlled, and related parties, as well as those subjects registered in the VASP Registry.
2. Financial institutions, PSPs, and/or platforms for financing SMEs.

Advertising and/or dissemination actions must allow differentiating between the agent's services and those of third parties—according to the corporate purpose—as well as the functions and/or framework of action of their corresponding categories. In turn, these requirements must be complied with:
 

1. The scope of advertising and/or dissemination in the agent's own digital media must exclusively comprise the availability of the web domain of the subjects mentioned above, which may function as a reference link to the third party's website, without implying direct access to it.

When, additionally, the advertising or dissemination of the agent's services is carried out through an application provided by a third party also offering the possibility of operating with the agent through that platform, the user must be informed in a clear and precise manner, providing all the agent's registration data as part of said advertising.
 

2. The parties involved may not be registered before the CNV in the same category of agent, except that the ALyC receiving the referred clients complies with all the procedures inherent to the opening of the principal account, and may not derive operations or delegate its functions, partially or wholly, to any other subject, including the referral agent.
3. The parties involved must make available, on their corresponding websites and apps, the necessary means to guarantee direct and independent access, according to the functions of each registration category.

Agents must—through the Financial Information Regime (AIF)—inform the intervening third party or parties and the means used, indicating their internet domains and/or URL for downloading applications for mobile devices, if applicable.

On the other hand, the Resolution modifies the modalities for receiving orders and instructions, establishing that each of the modalities agents implement must be clearly and precisely detailed in the corresponding procedures manual. If agents use computer tools provided by a third party, they will be responsible for any contingency that prevents its normal operation.

Likewise, agents must make at least one way of receiving orders and instructions available to clients as an alternative if the main means undergo any type of contingency. They must also keep all documentation related to the collection of orders and instructions for at least five years. Agents must take the necessary measures and carry out the necessary actions to protect the documents to avoid their destruction, loss, misuse, and disclosure of confidential information.

To capture orders and instructions through digital means, if using the services of tools or platforms as an order capture modality through digital means, the procedures manual must include:
 

1. access policies and customer authentication,
2. security and contingency plans and policies in the event of failures in the system,
3. traceability of the issued orders, including date, hour, minutes, and seconds,
4. availability for clients to print, file, and send—through the agreed digital means—the order sent to the agent.

Agents may use the services that PSPs’ platforms and the Platforms for the Financing of SMEs registered before the BCRA provide. If agents choose to capture orders through private communication networks, they must be detailed in the procedure manual and comply, among others, with these requirements:
 

1. An overall description of the system.
2. An express indication of the e-mail address and/or telephone number to be used, which must be the agent's.
3. Security and contingency plans and policies in the event of system failures.
4. Traceability of issued orders, including date, hour, minutes, and seconds.

Agents must keep available for the CNV the documentation required for each type of order gathering and instructions implemented with clients.

Regarding the modalities of contact with clients, agents must establish contact channels with their clients, to receive queries, provide information, and advice, and adequately and timely address any other claim or request.

Each of the channels must be detailed in the required procedure manual, which must also establish the steps customers must follow if they have to use alternative means of capturing orders when the main and usual means are not operative.

Likewise, they may use other modalities of contact with clients, provided that these allow channeling queries, providing information, and attending to any other claim or request in a clear and precise manner, according to the parameters and requirements contemplated in this article.

Agents must update their procedures and forms for order reception, client contact, advertising, and client referral by March 31, 2025.