On March 28, the Colombian Constitutional Court issued a landmark ruling that could reshape the application of the Due Diligence principle in financial institutions. The case was brought by a citizen who was denied the opening of a savings account by several banks due to a criminal record for embezzlement and falsification of public documents, despite having served his sentence and proven the legality of his income. He argued that this denial barred him from accessing the financial system, thereby infringing on his rights to work, to a minimum standard of living, and affecting his economic activity.
The Court concluded that the decision, based solely on a criminal record, amounted to an automatic and unreasonable application of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Risk Management System (SARLAFT), violating the principles of proportionality and reasonableness. It also warned against shifting all risk controls to the initial stage of client onboarding.
As a structural measure, the Court ordered financial institutions to review their customer onboarding procedures and instructed the Financial Superintendency to issue a circular establishing clear guidelines for evaluating applications from individuals with criminal records.
Source: Constitutional Court, Ruling T-113 of 2025
