Panama Company Search Guide 2026: How to Verify a Panamanian Business

TL;DR. The Registro Público de Panamá is an autonomous public entity at https://www.rp.gob.pa. The site loads under the title “Servicios Telematicos”, but it presents an empty application frame rather than a company-register search form. No fees and no payment methods are published there, so fees are unknown rather than free. https://www.dgi.gob.pa, the tax authority address given for RUC lookups, no longer resolves, and no replacement is published. Panama is not named on the FATF increased-monitoring list of 19 June 2026; confirm at source.

What is the official Panama business registry?

The Registro Público de Panamá is the official company registry, operating as an autonomous public entity under the Ministry of Government (Ministerio de Gobierno). Its online portal is at https://www.rp.gob.pa, titled Servicios Telematicos, which loads an empty application frame rather than a search form. The legal framework for commercial registration is the Codigo de Comercio de Panama and Law 32 of 1927, which governs Sociedad Anonima formation.

The Registro Público covers: Sociedades Anonimas (SA), Fundaciones de Interes Privado (Private Interest Foundations), Sociedades de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL), Sociedades en Comandita, branch offices of foreign companies, and other legal forms.

The RUC (Registro Unico del Contribuyente) is issued by the DGI (Direccion General de Ingresos). The DGI address named in earlier copy, dgi.gob.pa, no longer resolves, and no replacement address is published.

Panama’s registry architecture requires all SAs to be formed by and maintain a Registered Agent (Agente Residente): a licensed Panamanian attorney or law firm who holds the company’s official address and is the registry’s point of contact.

Panama is a GAFILAT member. Its AML/CFT supervisory framework is administered by the UAF (Unidad de Analisis Financiero) under the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

What can you search?

The rp.gob.pa page loads an empty application frame, so search fields, folio lookup, director lists and a DGI RUC lookup could not be confirmed on it.

The following are the register’s filed contents, not a walkthrough of a public form:

• Company name, folio (registry file) number, legal form, registration date, status
• Registered agent (licensed attorney or firm)
• Director information where filed on the public record

Beneficial ownership data is held by resident agents and the UAF, and is not publicly searchable on rp.gob.pa.

How much does it cost?

No fee schedule and no payment methods are published on rp.gob.pa, so the table above reads unknown rather than free; confirm at source.

Do you need a local account or ID?

Account rules could not be confirmed, because no search form loads. Free search has been reported as needing no account, and certified orders as being placed by email from abroad; confirm at source.

Is the website in English?

Partial. The site title is Spanish (“Servicios Telematicos”), and no English interface loads. Certified documents are issued in Spanish.

What’s the turnaround time?

Unknown. No download path could be reached on rp.gob.pa; confirm at source.

Is there an API?

No public API is available from the Registro Público de Panamá for third-party registry data extraction. The DGI address dgi.gob.pa no longer resolves.

What you legally cannot do

The Registro Público’s terms of use, when reachable, prohibit automated bulk downloading of company records and certified documents. Commercial redistribution of certified registry documents without authorization is not permitted.

Panama’s data protection law (Law 81 of 2019, in force with regulations from 2021) restricts how personal data of directors and shareholders obtained from the registry may be used. Personal data collected for due diligence may not be repurposed for marketing databases.

Following the Panama Papers (2016) and Pandora Papers (2021), Panama enacted a series of AML and transparency reforms. Law 254 of 2015 and Law 52 of 2016 require resident agents to maintain and disclose beneficial ownership records to the UAF upon request. FATF publishes its black and grey lists at fatf-gafi.org, and the increased-monitoring list of 19 June 2026 does not name Panama; confirm at source. Beneficial ownership data is not part of the public Registro Público record.

Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers

• Identify the resident agent. Every Panamanian SA must have a licensed resident agent (a Panamanian law firm). That identity is a key due diligence data point when a search form is reachable.
• Post-Panama-Papers reforms are real but incomplete. Beneficial ownership data is not publicly accessible through rp.gob.pa. Treat entities with nominee directors as requiring enhanced due diligence.
• FATF. FATF publishes its black and grey lists at fatf-gafi.org, and the increased-monitoring list of 19 June 2026 does not name Panama; confirm at source.
• RUC. The DGI address dgi.gob.pa no longer resolves, and no replacement RUC lookup address is published.
• Fundaciones de Interes Privado. Panama’s Private Interest Foundations (Law 25 of 1995) are registered with the Registro Público and operate under a different legal framework from commercial SAs.

Alternatives if you cannot access the registry directly

• Aggregator search (indicative only): OpenCorporates indexes some Panamanian filings but has limited coverage. Useful only for a quick name flag.
• dgi.gob.pa: no longer resolves. Not an alternative.
• Resident agent contact: For any Panamanian SA, the resident agent is the direct channel for certified documents and, within legal limits, UBO information.

Local data suppliers

• BCR (Bureau of Credit Reporting Panama) (bcr.com.pa). Commercial and consumer credit reports for Panamanian entities.
• Dun & Bradstreet Panama: D&B covers Panamanian entities through its global network.

Use the Registro Público for the official legal record when a search form is reachable. Use BCR or D&B for payment behavior and risk scoring.

FAQ

Can a foreign company access Panama’s Registro Público directly?

rp.gob.pa loads an empty application frame titled Servicios Telematicos, not a search form, and no other official search address is published.

What is the RUC number in Panama?

The RUC (Registro Unico del Contribuyente) is Panama’s tax identifier issued by the DGI. Its dgi.gob.pa address no longer resolves. The folio number at the Registro Público remains the corporate-file identifier.

What entity types are registered with Panama’s Registro Público?

The main forms include: Sociedad Anonima (SA), Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL), Sociedad en Comandita Simple and por Acciones, Fundacion de Interes Privado (Private Interest Foundation, Law 25 of 1995), Sociedad Civil, and Sucursal (branch of a foreign company). Every SA must have a licensed Panamanian resident agent.

Does Panama have a beneficial ownership (UBO) registry?

No public beneficial ownership search appears on rp.gob.pa. Law 52 of 2016 requires resident agents to maintain beneficial owner registers and disclose them to the UAF upon request; confirm at source.

How current is the data in Panama’s Registro Público?

Not confirmed, because no search form loads. The Registro Público updates when documents are presented for registration by resident agents.

Is Panama on the FATF grey list?

No. FATF publishes its black and grey lists at fatf-gafi.org, and the increased-monitoring list of 19 June 2026 does not name Panama; confirm at source.

What is the difference between the Registro Público and Panama’s tax and financial regulators?

The Registro Público holds the corporate legal record. Tax filings and the RUC go to the DGI separately, and its dgi.gob.pa address no longer resolves. Financial sector entities are supervised by the SBP (banking) or SMV (securities).

Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: rp.gob.pa, which loads an empty application frame titled Servicios Telematicos rather than a search form; dgi.gob.pa, which no longer resolves; the FATF black and grey lists as of 19 June 2026. For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.