The Argentine Central Bank (Banco Central de la República Argentina) is the governmental agency in charge of the regulation of banking activities in Argentina and, therefore, is in charge of authorizing the registration of financial entities, as stated in Article Section 7 of the Financial Entities Act No. 21,526. It exercises control and system monitoring through the Superintendence of Financial and Exchange Entities.

The Argentine Central Bank’s main duties include the following:

• The regulation of the financial system
• The enactment of financial regulations
• The flow of funds and regulation of interest rates
• The authorization regarding the registration of foreign banks

In accordance with the principle of equal treatment between national and foreign capital, Argentine law sets no restrictions on the nationality of the investors who wish to participate in the local financial system nor on the operations that the entities in which they participate can perform.

In addition, the Argentine capital market is regulated by the Argentine Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional de Valores), which is the entity in charge of the regulation of public offerings, brokers and stock exchanges. Capital Market Act No. 26,831 regulates public and private offerings in Argentina.

The anti-money laundering regulator and supervisor for financial services firms is the Financial Information Unit (Unidad Financiera de Información) ("Unit"). According to the provisions of Act No. 25,246, the Unit is in charge of the analysis, processing and transmission of information to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing crimes. To this end, it may request reports, documents, background information and any other element it deems useful.