Uruguay

A fintech company that provides alternative products and services may or may not be requested to be licenced in Uruguay, this depends on if the activities carried out by such are within the ones described below.
There is no particular regulatory regime sanctioned regarding collective investment schemes in Uruguay. Recently the CBU in an intention to protect the financial system consumers regulated the activities of P2P Lending Platform Administrators.
P2P Lending Platform Administrators (the “Administrators”) are defined as legal entities that administer web applications or other electronic means designed to mediate between bidders and applicants of money loans. Those who register on the platform to offer or demand loans will be clients of the P2P Lending Platform Administrator. This regulation does not, however, apply to platforms that mediate between non-residents.
Only Uruguayan residents are able to apply for money, not applying such restriction to bidders. The loans may be offered by: a) natural persons investing their own resources, b) companies that do not carry out financial activities in a habitual and professional manner, investing their own resources, c) Banks, Investment Banks, Financial Intermediation Cooperatives, Financial houses, Credit Management Companies, Financial Services Companies and Investment funds being all of the previously mentioned necessarily registered before the CBU as such; and d) Foreign Investment Funds.
The Administrators shall: (i) implement due diligence policies and procedures (simple and intensified according to the criteria imposed by the regulation) on all customers; (ii) appoint a compliance officer; and (iii) adopt codes of conduct to prevent the system from being used to launder assets and finance terrorism.
The Administrators are able to offer the following services to the lenders:
• Conservation of information on loans granted
• Loan applicants ' credit Rating
• Suggestion of interest rates according to the credit rating of each applicant
• Overdue Receivables Management.
On the other hand, the administrators may not: (i) act as bidders or applicants on the platform; (ii) act under the mandate of customers to arrange loans; (iii) operate payments, collections and recovery of loans; (iv) acquire overdue credits; (v) establish algorithms that materialize loans automatically; (vi) to constitute guarantee funds financed by customer contributions; (vii) to ensure the recovery or return of loans; or (viii) administer platforms that operate exclusively with non-residents or use denominations that may be mistaken for platforms operating with non-residents.
The regulation imposes limits on total indebtedness within each platform, distinguishing between moneys applied by natural persons or companies. It also limits the amount of loans that can be lent through each platform by natural persons or companies that do not perform financial activities on a regular and professional basis.
The flow of funds corresponding to the loans specified, both in the initial provision of funds by the lender and in the realization of payments by the borrower, will be channeled through participating entities of the Uruguayan payments system.