Agreement 6-2026: banks will have to put the effective cost of loans in writing

The interest rate on a loan offer tells only part of the story. Insurance, fees and other charges are added to every installment, and the sum of all of them is the number that really matters when deciding how to finance your company. Agreement 6-2026 of the Superintendency of Banks of Panama will require banks to put that number in writing, along with a full breakdown of every payment. The bank itself will hand you the information you need to compare, negotiate and plan your company’s debt.

The amortization table and the 7 items it must contain

The Superintendency’s Board of Directors approved the agreement on July 22, 2026, amending article 9 of Agreement 1-2011 on banking transparency. When a bank approves a loan repaid in installments, it will have to give you a written notice with an amortization table, answer your questions and keep a record that the table was delivered at no charge.

The table must show at least 7 items. The first describe the loan itself, with the amount disbursed, the term, the payment frequency and the rate, including its type, the effective rate and how it is calculated. The rest describe each payment, breaking the installment down into principal, interest and, where they apply, insurance, fees and recurring charges. The table closes with the balance before and after each payment, the due dates and the total cost of the loan.

The agreement adds other obligations that matter in your relationship with the bank. Contracts will have to show the nominal and effective rates side by side, annualized and highlighted, with the formula used to calculate them. If the rate or any condition that changes the payment schedule is modified, the bank must notify you in advance and provide a recalculated table at no charge. The text refers to clients in general, without distinguishing between individuals and companies.

A transition period that runs until March 2027

The rule was due to take effect on October 22, 2026. On September 22, the Superintendency issued Agreement 9-2026, which pushes the start date to March 31, 2027. According to the regulator’s official notice, the extra time gives banks room to adapt their processes, systems and procedures.

The same agreement added a model amortization table that banks must follow as a minimum. The model gives separate columns to interest, the Fondo Especial de Compensación de Intereses (FECI) where it applies, insurance and fees. Recurring charges such as ITBMS get a column of their own.

Before that date, another rule that complements this one comes into force. Agreement 7-2026, effective January 4, 2027, establishes that when a client in good standing pays more than the installment due on an amortizing loan, the excess goes toward principal. It also prohibits charging for balance letters, bank references and the payment history requested once a year.

The effective cost as a decision-making tool

With the table in hand, you can compare offers from different banks without relying on the nominal rate. A lower rate paired with higher insurance and fees can end up costing more, and the total cost of the loan shows that in a single number.

The same logic applies to a refinancing. Before moving a loan to another bank, it is worth comparing what you still have to pay on the current loan with the total cost of the new offer, including the fees of the transaction itself.

The table also brings order to cash flow planning. Knowing how much of each installment is principal and how much is interest lets you schedule extra payments in the months when your company has the most liquidity. From January 2027, those payments will go toward the outstanding principal.

What your company can review today

Your company does not have to wait until March 2027 to get this information. We usually recommend that your finance team ask each bank for the amortization table of every outstanding loan, with the effective rate and the total cost. Those tables should reach your Board of Directors along with the rest of the debt information.

It is also worth reviewing the clauses that allow the bank to change the rate and how those changes are communicated. The rule requires notices to go through the channels agreed in the contract, so your company’s contact details at each bank should be up to date. The same goes for the insurance policies your loans require, since the bank will have to notify you when one expires or is cancelled.

Having the table for every loan and the total cost of the debt lets shareholders and management decide with more precision when to refinance, how much to prepay and which bank to grow with. If your company is reviewing how it finances itself, we would be glad to talk it through at Okami Capital.