Fintech & payments regulation in Dominican Republic (2026)

The Central Bank hosted its second Instant Payments Forum and unveiled a new retail instant payment infrastructure — built with CMA Small Systems — that will settle transactions within 10 seconds, operate 24/7, and explicitly integrate non-bank fintech providers into SIPARD for the first time.

The Monetary Board's Second Resolution of 28 August 2025 overhauled the Payment Systems Regulation: adding registration requirements for digital-wallet providers and payment-initiation service providers, regulating cross-border acquiring by Dominican entities, renaming 'payment aggregators' to 'sub-acquiring companies', and creating a formal test-environment regime for payment services.

The Junta Monetaria issued Resolution JM 250522-03, publishing an updated consolidated text of the SIPARD payment and securities settlement regulation as an intermediate step before the August 2025 comprehensive overhaul.

The IMF released a High-Level Technical Assistance Report assessing the macroeconomic and financial-inclusion implications of a retail central bank digital currency for the Dominican Republic, signalling active government exploration of a digital peso alongside its existing electronic payment reform agenda.

The Central Bank, Banking Superintendency, Securities, Pensions, and Insurance regulators jointly launched the Dominican Republic's first cross-sector regulatory sandbox and innovation dialogue forum for fintech, with IDB technical support; the Hub gave non-licensed innovators a formal channel to test products under regulatory observation.

The Monetary Board's Second Resolution of 29 January 2021 enacted a comprehensive new Reglamento de Sistemas de Pago that created defined licensing/registration categories for electronic payment entities (EPEs), payment aggregators, merchant acquirers, and ATM-network operators, bringing private payment systems formally under SIPARD and aligning the framework with global best practices.

The GAFILAT Mutual Evaluation Report on the Dominican Republic found material deficiencies in AML/CFT supervision of non-bank financial entities including payment service providers and remittance operators; the findings accelerated fintech-specific AML controls and the subsequent passage of expanded supervisory powers.

Law 155-17 replaced the 2002 AML law, expanding obligated subjects to include payment service providers, foreign-exchange brokers, and remittance operators; it imposed mandatory KYC/CDD, beneficial-ownership disclosure, and suspicious-activity reporting to the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF) — obligations that apply to all licensed fintech and digital payment entities today.

The Central Bank and Monetary Board issued guidance declaring that virtual currencies are not legal tender and prohibiting all regulated financial institutions from investing in or conducting operations with cryptocurrencies — a prohibition that remains in force and legally separates traditional digital payments from crypto assets.

Law 172-13 established comprehensive data-privacy rules governing collection, storage, processing, and transfer of personal data in public and private databases — providing the baseline legal protection framework that fintech firms and digital payment platforms must comply with when handling customer financial data.

Law 183-02 created the entire regulatory architecture of the Dominican monetary and financial system: establishing the Monetary Board as the supreme rule-making body, defining the Central Bank's mandate over payment systems, and empowering the Banking Superintendency (SIB) to license and supervise all financial entities — the constitutional bedrock on which all subsequent fintech and digital payment regulation is layered.