Who must comply?
- Trustees of express trusts (common-law jurisdictions)
- Fiduciaries managing Mexican fideicomisos and equivalent civil-law arrangements (fiducies, treuhand, anstalten)
- Professional trust and company service providers (TCSPs)
- Lawyers, notaries and accountants involved in the formation, operation or administration of legal arrangements
- Financial institutions and DNFBPs that maintain relationships with trusts as customers
Key requirements
- 1
Country-level risk assessment of legal arrangements
Each country must assess the ML/TF risks posed by trusts and similar legal arrangements — domestic and foreign — and take risk-proportionate measures to prevent their misuse.
- 2
Trustee duty to obtain BO information
Trustees of any express trust governed by their law must obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information on the identity of: (a) the settlor(s), (b) the trustee(s), (c) the protector (if any), (d) the beneficiaries or class of beneficiaries, and (e) any other natural person exercising ultimate effective control over the trust.
- 3
Information on regulated agents and service providers
Trustees must hold basic information on other regulated agents and service providers to the trust — including investment advisors, accountants, tax advisors and lawyers — so that the full picture of who interacts with the trust assets is documented.
- 4
Disclosure of trustee status
Professional trustees must disclose their status to financial institutions and DNFBPs when forming a business relationship or carrying out an occasional transaction above the applicable threshold, so the counterparty can apply CDD on the trust as well as on the trustee.
- 5
Adequate access by competent authorities
Competent authorities (FIU, supervisors, law enforcement, tax) must have timely access to the BO information held by trustees, and must be able to obtain it through international cooperation when the trust has cross-border elements.
- 6
Tax and registration cooperation
Tax authorities and registries must cooperate domestically and internationally to ensure information on legal arrangements flows efficiently to those that need it for AML/CFT, tax-evasion and corruption investigations.
- 7
Sanctions for non-compliance
Countries must apply liability and effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for trustees that fail to comply, including liability for failure to grant authorities timely access to information.
Practical example
Example: a Mexican fideicomiso de garantía with multiple parties
A Mexican bank acts as fiduciario in a guarantee trust (fideicomiso de garantía) for a corporate loan. The settlor is a Mexican S.A. de C.V., the beneficiary is the lending bank, and there is a Technical Committee that may direct the fiduciary. Under R.25 (and Art. 32-B Ter CFF) the fiduciario must hold: identity and CURP of all natural persons behind the settlor S.A. de C.V., identity of the bank's authorised officers acting as beneficiary representative, CURP of every Technical Committee member, and a chain-of-control diagram. If a member of the Technical Committee changes, the fiduciary updates the file within 15 calendar days and notifies the SAT. The full file is kept for 10 years and is available for SAT inspections.
How Mexico implements it
Country-specific section in Spanish — Mexican regulatory references (LFPIORPI, CNBV, SAT, UIF).
México implementa la Recomendación 25 a través del marco LGTOC (que regula el fideicomiso) y los regímenes PLD que aplican según el fiduciario y la operación:
LGTOC Arts. 381-407 — El fideicomiso mexicano
El fideicomiso mexicano es un negocio jurídico mercantil donde el fideicomitente transmite la propiedad de bienes a una institución autorizada para fines lícitos y determinados. Solo bancos, casas de bolsa, SOFOMes con registro CONDUSEF y otras instituciones autorizadas pueden actuar como fiduciarios.
Fideicomiso en México: guía completa 2026LFPIORPI Art. 17 Fr. XII — Notarios y fideicomisos
La constitución o modificación de fideicomisos traslativos de dominio o de garantía sobre inmuebles ante notario es actividad vulnerable. Umbral de aviso reformado a 4,000 UMA ($469,240 MXN) por la reforma de julio 2025. El notario tiene obligaciones independientes a las del fiduciario.
Obligaciones PLD para fideicomisos en MéxicoCFF Art. 32-B Quáter — Beneficiario controlador del fideicomiso
El SAT considera beneficiario controlador del fideicomiso al fideicomitente, el fiduciario, los fideicomisarios y cualquier persona que ejerza control efectivo (≥15% de control, decisiones en órganos de gobierno, dirección de la administración). Si no hay persona física identificable, lo serán los miembros del Comité Técnico.
FIBRAs y fideicomisos bursátiles
Los Fideicomisos de Inversión en Bienes Raíces (FIBRAs) y otros fideicomisos emisores cotizados en BMV están sujetos a la R.25 vía la CNBV: el fiduciario (banco o casa de bolsa) aplica DDC sobre fideicomitente, fideicomisarios (tenedores de CBFI con ≥15%) y miembros del Comité Técnico.
FIBRA: qué es y cómo invertir en bienes raícesFideicomiso de garantía
El fideicomiso de garantía (Arts. 395-407 LGTOC) es la figura más usada como alternativa a la hipoteca. La R.25 obliga a que el fiduciario tenga el expediente completo de las cinco partes y aplique medidas reforzadas cuando el patrimonio fideicomitido sea elevado o el fideicomitente sea PEP.
Fideicomiso de garantía: guía legal en México 2026Milestones
-
2003
Original Recommendation 34 — basic transparency for trusts
-
2012
Renumbered as Recommendation 25 with explicit settlor/trustee/beneficiary identification
-
2022
Public consultation on aligning R.25 with the upgraded R.24 framework
-
2023
Major revision strengthens trustee duties and expands cross-border cooperation
-
2025
October 2025 update consolidates BO standards across legal persons (R.24) and arrangements (R.25)
Related Recommendations
Other Recommendations in Group E — Transparency & Beneficial Ownership
Official citation
FATF (2012-2025), International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation, Recommendation 25, FATF, Paris, France. Last updated October 2025.
Read the official text on fatf-gafi.org