Guatemala approved Decreto 15-2026, a sweeping new law that folds money-laundering and terrorist-financing controls into a single framework and extends them far beyond the banking sector. The reform replaces Decreto 67-2001 and Decreto 58-2005, bringing real estate, vehicles, professionals, cryptocurrencies and corporate structures under closer scrutiny.

The timing is what has made the change resonate now. After 25 years under the previous framework, the country has rewritten its anti-money-laundering rules in one move, and the new law is already drawing attention because it changes who must comply and who must report. Companies and professionals will face tougher transparency obligations, while the system now reaches across more corners of the economy instead of focusing mainly on banks.

The law also aligns Guatemala more closely with the recommendations of the Grupo de Acción Financiera Internacional, a step aimed at strengthening the prevention, detection, investigation and punishment of money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It also gives the Registro Mercantil a more active role by requiring mechanisms to verify the information companies provide about who is really behind a legal structure.

That last point matters because the law defines a beneficiary final as anyone who directly or indirectly owns or controls at least 20% of participation, or who exercises effective control. For companies with layered ownership, that is a much sharper line than the looser disclosures many of them have managed under older rules, and it is one reason the reform is expected to raise compliance costs in sectors that historically sat outside the Intendencia de Verificación Especial’s radar.

The pressure now shifts to the next stage. Decreto 15-2026 is approved, but it has not yet been officially published and its reglament is still pending, leaving the details of how the new obligations will work in practice to be set later. Until that happens, Guatemala has a new legal architecture on paper, but the rules that will make it operational are still waiting to be written.