Financial service providers regulated under the Law no. 7732 on the Securities Market — i.e. stock exchange, securities intermediaries and custodians, risk rating firms — are required to incorporate under Costa Rican laws, with the exception of foreign branches of investment fund management companies.
"Article 2-  [...]
Only subjects authorized by the General Superintendency of Securities ( Sugeval ) may make a public offering of securities in the country , except in the cases provided for in this law. The same will apply to the provision of securities brokerage services, in accordance with the definition established by the Superintendency in a regulatory manner, as well as to the other activities regulated in this law.
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ARTICLE 27.- Purpose
The sole purpose of the stock exchanges is to facilitate transactions with securities, as well as to exercise the functions of authorization, supervision and regulation, conferred by law, on the positions and brokers.
They will be organized as public limited companies and must be owned by the stock exchanges that participate in them. [...]
ARTICLE 28.- Operating requirements
The Superintendency will authorize the operation of a stock exchange when it meets the following requirements:
a) It is constituted as a joint-stock company by simultaneous foundation, in the terms indicated in the previous article.
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ARTICLE 54.- Requirements
All stock exchange positions will be subject to the fulfillment of the following requirements:
a) That it be constituted as a joint-stock company by simultaneous foundation, in accordance with the pertinent regulations of the Commercial Code, and that both its shares and those of its partners, when they are legal persons, are registered shares.
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ARTICLE 65.- Companies empowered to administer funds
Investment fund management companies must be public limited companies or branches of foreign companies that meet the requirements indicated in this law and the Commercial Code, whose exclusive purpose is to provide investment fund management services, according to this title.
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ARTICLE 134.- Authorized entities
The service of custody of securities and the offer of said service may only be provided by corporations called securities centrals, previously authorized by the Superintendency and constituted for the sole purpose of providing the services authorized by this law, as well as the positions of stock market and entities subject to the supervision of the General Superintendency of Financial Institutions.
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ARTICLE 144.- Risk rating companies
The risk rating agencies are public limited companies, whose exclusive corporate purpose is the risk rating of the securities registered in the National Registry of Securities and Intermediaries and the complementary activities to said object, authorized by the regulations by the General Superintendency of Securities.[...]" (Law no. 7732 on the Securities Market (12/17/1997), last amended by Law no. 9746 of 10/16/2019, Articles 2, 27, 28, 54, 65, 134 and 144 [google translation])
Law no. 7732 on the Securities Market (12/17/1997), last amended by Law no. 9746 of 10/16/2019, Articles 2, 27, 28, 54, 65, 134 and 144
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