Banking & pensions

Source’s stated verification: October 2026.

Panama runs on US dollars, does not tax your foreign pension, and lets the US Social Security Administration deposit your check straight into a Panamanian bank. That combination is genuinely rare. But Panama's banking system also went through three mergers in twelve months, has no deposit insurance, and makes opening an account a paperwork exercise. This guide walks through what changed and what to do — with separate tracks for Americans and Canadians, because the rules really are different.

---

What changed in Panama's banks in 2025–2026?

⚠️ Any banking guide written before 2026 is stale. Three mergers redrew the map in twelve months:

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see every column

The 2026 retail lineup that matters to expats (assets per the Superintendencia de Bancos, April 2026):

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see every column

⚠️ Scammers exploited the Davivienda–Scotiabank integration with fake "update your data" SMS and WhatsApp messages. No Panamanian bank will ever ask for passwords or transfers by text. Treat any merger-related message as phishing until you verify it in a branch.

How do I open a bank account as a foreigner?

Opening an account is possible but bureaucratic, and approval is never automatic — every bank sets its own policy. In practice:

• Most banks effectively require legal residency (your carné de migración or the permanent-resident cédula E issued by the Tribunal Electoral). Banco General, for example, asks foreigners without a cédula E to demonstrate a "tie to Panama" (property, a residency application in process, a pensioner visa). The state bank Caja de Ahorros markets to foreign residents with a B/.25 opening deposit, passport, and valid carné.
• A limited subset of banks accepts non-residents — Banistmo is one of the few majors that publishes a non-resident path (passport + a second original photo ID + income evidence) — but expect higher scrutiny and opening deposits of roughly $2,000–$10,000 depending on your risk profile.

The standard document stack (2026):

1. Valid passport (original; the entry-stamp page will be copied)
2. Carné de migración or cédula E (if resident)
3. A second photo ID (for non-residents)
4. One bank reference letter on letterhead — regulation (SBP Acuerdo 05-2015) allows a personal or commercial reference, or an APC credit-bureau report, to substitute
5. Proof of address (utility bill)
6. Proof of income and source of funds — pension letters from SSA or CPP are fully accepted; tax returns or a CPA certification also work
7. FATCA Form W-9 if you are a US person

Timeline: about 2–4 weeks once your file is complete (best case 1–2 weeks; it can run to 2 months). Experienced expats advise allowing several months from arrival to an active account. In-person appearance is the norm; remote opening through a lawyer with an apostilled passport is possible but costs more (~$1,500 vs ~$500 in-person service fees). US citizens should budget extra time: Panama operates under a Model 1 FATCA agreement (banks report US-person accounts to the DGI, which exchanges with the IRS), and some smaller banks quietly decline US clients because of the compliance cost.

⚠️ Online claims of a "$250,000 minimum deposit" are outdated marketing; realistic minimums are $2,000–$10,000 for non-residents and as low as B/.25–100 for residents.

Is my money insured in Panama?

No. Panama has no deposit insurance — there is no FDIC-style scheme. This is settled: Banco General's own bond prospectus filed with the securities regulator states: "Seguro de depósitos: no hay seguro sobre depósitos." The government does not insure any deposit.

The "$10,000 deposit insurance" you may have read on aggregator sites is a misreading of the Banking Law's liquidation priority: deposits of $10,000 or less (plus new deposits made during a bank's reorganization) get payment priority if a bank is liquidated. That is a place in the payout queue — not insurance, not a guarantee.

Bank failures are handled by the Superintendencia de Bancos through intervention and resolution under Decree Law 9 of 1998, not by depositor payouts. Practical consequences:

• Treat Panamanian deposits as uninsured and avoid concentrating large sums in one bank.
• Prefer large, well-capitalized, SBP-supervised banks — Fitch's 2026 peer group highlights Banco General, Banco Nacional, Caja de Ahorros, Banistmo, and Global Bank.
• "No Panamanian bank has ever failed" is a stability anecdote, not a guarantee.

Can I receive my US Social Security in Panama? (Americans)

Yes — officially. Panama is on the SSA's International Direct Deposit (IDD) country list. Payments arrive in US dollars, with no currency conversion and no wire fees.

How to enroll:

1. Use the Panama-specific Form SSA-1199-OP21 (07-2026 edition). You complete Section 1 and sign; your Panama bank completes Section 3 — so you need a bank officer familiar with the process. Major banks known to participate: Banistmo, Banco General, and Global Bank (verified via expat reporting; SSA publishes no official bank list).
2. There is no SSA office in Panama. SSA beneficiaries enroll through the SSA Regional Office in San José, Costa Rica: email FBU.CostaRica@ssa.gov to request the enrollment form. OPM and VA beneficiaries email their completed, bank-signed forms to Panama-FBU@State.gov; military retirees (DFAS) use their own IDD form.
3. Allow up to 2 months for enrollment to become effective.
4. IDD also covers OPM federal pensions, VA benefits, and DFAS military retired pay.

Two obligations seniors miss:

• You must report your Panama address to SSA; leaving the US for more than 30 days without reporting can suspend payments.
• ⚠️ If your IDD pointed to a legacy Scotiabank or Multibank account, confirm the routing survived the Davivienda (Dec 2025) and BAC (Jun 2026) conversions. Accounts migrated unchanged, but routing codes can change at conversion — if your bank reports any account or routing change, file a new SSA-1199-OP21. No failures have been documented, but this is a reasonable precaution after a merger.

I'm Canadian — can CPP/OAS be deposited in Panama?

No — and this is the biggest nationality split in this guide. Panama is not on the Government of Canada's "Direct deposit for individuals with a foreign bank account" country list (the Receiver General program that deposits CPP/OAS to ~100 countries, including Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru — but not Panama; verified October 2026). There is no SSA-style direct-deposit rail from Canada into Panamanian banks. Third-party claims that Service Canada wires CPP/OAS to Panama are contradicted by the official list — treat them as stale or wrong.

The working setup for Canadians:

1. Keep a Canadian bank account as the landing account for CPP and OAS.
2. Expect a flat 25% Part XIII withholding tax at source as a non-resident — and because Canada has no tax treaty with Panama, there is no treaty reduction. (The NR5 application and the Section 217 election are the mitigation routes; discuss with a cross-border tax advisor.)
3. Then move funds to Panama via Wise CAD→USD (~0.6–1% total cost) or a bank wire (Canadian outgoing wire ~$30–80 + Panama incoming fee of $20–37.45).
4. OAS itself only continues abroad if you have 20+ years of Canadian residence after age 18; GIS is not portable at all. OAS clawback applies based on world income.

Can I use Wise or wires to move money?

Wise works inbound but not as a resident account. You can send money to Panama through Wise (USD→USD, delivered into your Panamanian bank account from Wise's local account — roughly $9–12 per $3,000). But Panama residents cannot open a Wise account or get the Wise card — Panama is not a supported country of residence. The practical pattern: keep Wise registered to your US or Canadian address and use it to push money into Panama. Remitly and Western Union also serve Panama; Western Union has the densest cash-pickup network, useful before your bank account is active.

Bank wire fees (published tariffs):

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see every column

All figures include or are subject to 7% ITBMS. Other banks typically charge $15–40 incoming.

⚠️ Two notes: (1) A new US 1% remittance excise tax (from January 1, 2026) applies only to transfers funded with cash, money orders, or cashier's checks — transfers pulled from your US bank account (Wise or wire) are exempt. (2) Incoming transfers above $10,000 trigger Panamanian AML source-of-funds documentation; if you are moving home-sale proceeds, have the pension letters or sale contracts ready so the wire is not frozen.

Will Panama tax my pension or savings?

No — for individual retirees, foreign income is untaxed. Panama taxes only Panama-source income (territoriality principle, Fiscal Code arts. 694–699). Foreign pensions, Social Security, foreign dividends, interest, and rental income stay outside the Panamanian tax base even when deposited into a Panamanian account. Local-source income, if you have any, is taxed at 0% up to $11,000, 15% to $50,000, and 25% above.

⚠️ Watch item (December 2025): the Ministry of Economy and Finance drafted a Fiscal Code amendment (a new Art. 694-A) taxing certain foreign-source passive income at 15% — but it targets entities of multinational enterprise groups lacking economic substance, driven by Panama's EU grey-list exit. Individual retirees are not affected. Some alarmist content conflates the two.

Americans still file with the IRS. There is no US–Panama income tax treaty and no Social Security totalization agreement. Key reporting thresholds:

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see every column

Missed filings can be cured via the IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (3 years of returns + 6 years of FBARs + 5% penalty) — but not once you are under examination. Keep your FBAR filings synchronized with account changes during the Davivienda/BAC migrations.

Can I get credit in Panama?

Start from zero — there is no credit portability. Panamanian banks underwrite exclusively off the local credit bureau, APC (Asociación Panameña de Crédito). Even a sterling US or Canadian credit history — even a prior relationship with Scotiabank elsewhere — makes you a brand-new customer in Panama. Retirees on foreign pensions are deprioritized because banks prefer locally employed USD income; expect about 2 years of local history before standard credit products.

The standard entry product is a secured credit card — and the deposits can be steep (one expat reported Banistmo requiring $12,000 tied up for a year to secure one card). Practical pattern: keep your no-foreign-transaction-fee US or Canadian cards for daily spending, use a Panama debit card locally, and take a secured card only if building an APC file matters (for example, future local financing).

Where can I park savings?

Local USD certificates of deposit (plazos fijos) pay around 4.9–5.0% for 1 year (average ~4.93% as of late 2025); 30-day CDs ~3.95–4.0%; plain savings 0.5–1.0% at the majors (digital challenger Unibank pays ~4.75%). Because deposits are uninsured, ladder CDs across banks rather than concentrating. For investments, Interactive Brokers accepts Panama residents and is the de facto expat standard; Vanguard and Fidelity restrict expat accounts. US citizens should hold US-domiciled ETFs to avoid the PFIC regime.

Quick checklist

1. Get your residency card (carné de migración) first — it unlocks banking.
2. Open at a large bank with published foreigner requirements; bring the full document stack and expect 2–4 weeks.
3. Treat deposits as uninsured; split large balances.
4. Americans: enroll in SSA IDD (Form SSA-1199-OP21, via FBU.CostaRica@ssa.gov); file FBAR and Form 8938.
5. Canadians: keep a Canadian landing account; budget 25% withholding; move money by Wise or wire.
6. After any bank merger affecting your accounts, re-confirm direct-deposit routing.

Sources

• SSA — International Direct Deposit country list & Form SSA-1199-OP21: https://www.ssa.gov/international/countrylist6.htm · https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1199-op21.pdf
• US Embassy Panama — International Direct Deposit (FBU): https://pa.usembassy.gov/services/federal-benefits-unit-fbu/international-direct-deposit/
• Canada.ca — Direct deposit for foreign bank accounts: country list: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services-procurement/services/payments-to-from-government/direct-deposit/foreign-bank-account/check-countries.html
• Scotiabank/Davivienda press releases & La Prensa (Dec 2025 integration); Nexo.la / Revista Estrategia & Negocios (BAC–Multibank; Grupo Financiero BSC; SBP April 2026 bank balances)
• Superintendencia de Bancos de Panamá — Acuerdo 05-2015 (KYC); 2026 bank registry: https://www.superbancos.gob.pa
• Banco General — SMV bond prospectus (no deposit insurance) & tariff schedule: https://www.bgeneral.com/tasas-comisiones-recargos/
• Banistmo — account requirements & tariff PDF (Oct 2025): https://www.banistmo.com
• Caja de Ahorros — accounts for foreigners: https://www.cajadeahorros.com.pa/cuentas/
• Wise — Send money to Panama: https://wise.com/us/send-money/send-money-to-panama ; Exiap (Wise card availability)
• PwC Tax Summaries — Panama individual taxes; La Prensa (Dec 2025) — MEF Fiscal Code draft (Art. 694-A)
• Taxes for Expats / Greenback / Bright!Tax — FBAR & Form 8938 thresholds (2026)
• La Prensa (Nov 2025) — CD rate averages (~4.93%); ComparaPA — savings rates
• Panama Properties (2025) — APC credit bureau & credit portability; ExpatDen (Jun 2026) — transfers and remittance-tax exemption

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Bank policies, fees, and ownership change — verify current requirements with the bank and a qualified advisor before acting.