2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SEVEN - Banking (§§ 1 — 3116) › PART I - Banks (§§ 1 — 278) › Chapter 16 - International Banking Center (§§ 231 — 232x) › § 232 - Definitions

For purposes of §§ 232 et seq. of this title, the following terms are defined as set forth below:
(a) Bank Secrecy Act.— Means the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended, 31 U.S.C. §§ 5311 et seq. and 12 U.S.C. Sections 1818(s), 1829(b), and 1951-1959, or any law succeeding or amending it.
(b) Commissioner.— Means the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico.
(c) International banking entity.— Means any person, other than an individual, incorporated or organized under the laws of Puerto Rico, the United States, or a foreign country, or a unit of such person, to which a license has been issued pursuant to § 232e of this title.
(d) United States.— Means the United States of America, any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, and every possession, territory, political subdivision, and agency thereof, excluding Puerto Rico.
(e) Insolvency.— Refers to the financial condition in which an international banking entity may find itself or the person of which an international banking entity is a unit, when it is unable to pay its debts when they become due or when its paid-in capital has been reduced to less than one-third (1/3).
(f) OFAC.— Means the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the United States Department of the Treasury.
(g) Person.— Means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, unit, trust or estate, syndicate or enterprise of any kind, government or political subdivision or agency thereof.
(h) Domestic person.— Means any natural person who is a resident of Puerto Rico or a person incorporated or organized under the laws of Puerto Rico, or a person whose principal place of business is located in Puerto Rico, and the Government or any political subdivision or agency of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(i) Foreign person.— Means any person other than a domestic person.
(j) Puerto Rico.— Means the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and every political subdivision and agency thereof.
(k) Resident of Puerto Rico.— Any person established in Puerto Rico with a defined purpose or interest, the nature of which requires a lengthy stay on the Island, shall be deemed to be a resident of Puerto Rico for purposes of §§ 232 et seq. of this title. Such person must make Puerto Rico his/her home temporarily, even when his/her intention is to return to his/her domicile outside of Puerto Rico after the purpose or interest that originally brought him/her to Puerto Rico has been terminated or abandoned. Such person shall be deemed to be a resident of Puerto Rico as of the day he/she establishes his/her residence in Puerto Rico, even though temporarily.
An essential requirement for any person to be deemed a resident of Puerto Rico pursuant to the previous paragraph is to be subject to the Puerto Rico income tax law as if he/she were a resident of Puerto Rico.
(l) Unit.— Includes any subdivision or branch of any person other than an individual, whose business and operations are segregated from the other business and operations of such person, as required by §§ 232 et seq. of this title.
(m) USA Patriot Act.— Means the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act”, as amended, 115 Stat. 272 (2001).
History —Aug. 11, 1989, No. 52, p. 178, § 2; Aug. 11, 1996, No. 121, § 1; Sept. 23, 2013, No. 110, § 1.