The Colombian Banking and Financial Institutions Association (Asobancaria) denounced the existence of a criminal network that manipulates the insolvency regime for non-merchant individuals. The scheme seeks to evade debts with banks, cooperatives, and telecommunications companies through maneuvers that threaten credit stability in the country.
Operation and fraud methodology
Led by Asobancaria president Jonathan Malagon, the complaint targets a specialized cartel that subverts debt negotiations through the fabrication of liabilities. The scheme involves lawyers recruiting real debtors and creating ghost creditors like relatives or shell companies, using backdated promissory notes.
By inflating the debt pool with these fictitious claims, the group secures a technical majority at negotiation tables to outvote legitimate lenders and manipulate settlement outcomes.
The scheme exploits a legal provision that grants one vote for every peso owed, allowing fake creditors to outvote real banks. Once the cartel controls the creditors’ assembly, it imposes payment plans that slash the debt to a fraction of its original value. The resulting signed agreement carries the force of law, barring financial institutions from collecting or seizing assets.
In many cases, the process ends in asset liquidation, where, with no real property on record, the debt vanishes entirely from the system.
Impact in figures and system exposure
The association warns of a growth in applications that breaks natural economic cycles. “It sounds strange, it sounds anecdotal, but it is not,” Malagon stated. “Ten years ago, we had 400 insolvency processes for individuals; last year, we had 20,000,” he added. Current projections suggest that 2026 will close with more than 35,000 processes, concentrated mainly in Bogota, Medellin, and Cali.
With an average debt of 30 million pesos per case (about US$7,400), the fraud restricts access to credit for those who do fulfill their obligations.
What is the Economic Insolvency Law for Non-Merchants?
Updated through Law 2445 of 2025, the insolvency law was designed to protect citizens facing genuine financial hardship. It allows a debtor in default to renegotiate obligations through a payment plan calibrated to their income and basic living needs. The process aims to rehabilitate the debtor and includes protections such as a suspension of enforcement proceedings.
To qualify, a citizen must have been in default for more than 90 days with at least two creditors and must demonstrate good faith. Asobancaria’s complaint targets precisely the criminal exploitation of this social safety net.
Legal consequences and state actions
Asobancaria warns that misusing this mechanism is a criminal offense. Participants face charges for procedural fraud, forgery of private documents, and criminal conspiracy. Beyond prison exposure, those found responsible face permanent exclusion from the financial system.
In its most recent statement, the association announced it is filing criminal complaints directly and has asked the Attorney General’s Office to intervene. The sector is also calling on the Superintendency of Companies and the Ministry of Justice to tighten oversight of conciliation centers, and it is pushing for a technical review of Law 2445 of 2025 to close the loopholes driving this conduct.