RAMÉNTOL PUJOL has a team of experienced lawyers specializing in finance and banking. Our expertise and skills allow us to advise banks, insurance and any other organization or institution with regulated finances, such Andorran and international suppliers of services.

The financial and banking system in Andorra is one of the main pillars of the Andorran economy and accounts for about 16% of its GDP.

The seriousness of the Andorran banking sector, in terms of supervision and strict verification of the origin and destination of funds, is recognized by organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Council of Europe. An IMF report of February 2007 states on Andorra that: “the supervision of the financial sector, with the banking sector at its core, is widely acknowledged as solid.”

The Andorran financial system is characterized by high solvency ratios and liquidity (22.02% and 75.70% respectively). A conservative and prudent management of the components, enabling Andorra to withstand the recent international financial crisis and receive excellent results compared to other countries, has achieved these.

The Andorran banking sector, with an experience of over 80 years, is represented by five banks, four of them with an Andorran capital and one of them with international participation.

The Andorran National Institute of Finance (INAF) is the body that oversees and monitors entities that are part of the Andorran financial system.

The Andorran Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) is the independent body that aims to promote and coordinate prevention and fight against money laundering.

We rely on a team of lawyers and multilingual economists that offer their clients a comprehensive service in all legal and regulatory aspects of the sector, both in Andorra as well as abroad, thanks to our network of correspondents in other jurisdictions.

Financial and banking regulations:

Our lawyers, experts in the field and with multilingual skills, advise national and international banking or financial institutions in all aspects of financial regulation and banking in Andorra and particularly in the context of:

• The organisation of the financial system,
• The legal regulatory regime of disciplinary rules of the financial system,
• Regulations for the creation of new banks under Andorran law,
• Authorization for the creation of new operators in the Andorran financial system
• The legal regime for financial institutions and collective investment funds,
• The legal regime of banking institutions and
• The basic administrative regime for bodies operating in the financial system

We also advise on financial and banking regulations affecting the deposit of financial assets in the Principality of Andorra.

We advise our clients in the authorization procedures and in the development of financial institutions, in the modification or addition of financial activities by intervening with the supervisory authority (Andorran National Institute of Finance – INAF) . Our expertise enables us to advise on procurement processes, mergers, reorganizations, separations, dissolutions and liquidations of operators in the financial and banking sector in the Principality of Andorra.

We offer our advice to banks and financial institutions for the protection of the banking secrecy and data protection, the prevention of money laundering or any other value resulting from criminal activity.

We render advice and submit legal opinions concerning financial and banking regulations for internal and external use.

Banking and financial contracts:

Our team of specialists has great prestige in banking and financial contracting, both nationally and internationally. We advise our clients on all cross-border transactions and assist them when interacting with international banks and financial institutions, which plan to operate with institutions regulated in Andorra. We set up the contracts for our clients to perform operations for funding, investment or provision of services concerning the financial and banking sector.

We issue notes and legal opinions concerning close-out netting transactions under contractual compensation agreements (close-out netting) and the enforceability in Andorra framework of master agreements agreements (master agreements – REPO, GMRA, ISDA, etc.).

We advise on retail banking products, leasing, renting, confirming, credit cards, commodities, international trade and mortgage financing.

Thanks to our experience and the duration of our interventions inknowledge of the main the business sectors most important in Andorra, we have gained profound competency expertise in writing negotiating and drafting banking and financial contracts necessary for economic activities with banks or financial institutions.

We are also experts in all court litigations and resolutions of conflicts arising from financial or banking contracts.