Merchant Current Account Agreement Chile

Merchant Current Account Agreement Chile (Contrato de Cuenta Corriente Mercantil) is a bilateral commercial contract governed by the Código de Comercio — enacted on 23 November 1865, still in force with successive amendments — specifically Articles 602 through 617, by which two merchants (comerciantes) agree to record their reciprocal transactions (remesas recíprocas) — goods supplied, services rendered, credits extended, and payments made — in a single running account (cuenta común), instead of settling each transaction individually. At the close of each agreed accounting period (período de liquidación), the debits and credits are balanced (compensated), and the resulting net balance (saldo) becomes an autonomous and liquid obligation owed by the party in deficit to the party in surplus, enforceable as a título ejecutivo under Código de Procedimiento Civil (CPC) Article 434.

Article 602 of the Código de Comercio defines the cuenta corriente mercantil as a contract by which two persons, having frequent reciprocal dealings (operaciones de comercio recíprocas y frecuentes), agree to record all transactions in a single account, with neither party able to claim payment of any individual item while the account remains open (mientras la cuenta esté corriente). This is the key characteristic of the cuenta corriente mercantil — the fusion (fusión) or confusión of individual credits and debits into an undivided running balance, governed by the principle of novación contractual: each new remesa is incorporated into the account and loses its individual identity, being replaced by the evolving account balance.

The novation effect (efecto novatorio) of the cuenta corriente mercantil is established by Código de Comercio Article 611: once a credit or debit is entered in the account, its individual legal character is extinguished (se extingue) and replaced by the account balance. This means that individual claims — invoices, pagarés, letras de cambio, or other instruments — lose their autonomous status once posted to the cuenta corriente mercantil, and the holder can only claim the account balance at settlement, not the individual items. This novation effect is a critical point that distinguishes the cuenta corriente mercantil from a simple running tab (facturación periódica) where individual items retain their identity.

The Código de Comercio Articles 604–605 govern the parties' obligations: each party (cuentacorrentista) must promptly record all remesas in the account; interest accrues on the outstanding balance from the date of each remesa; and the account is closed and balanced at the end of each agreed period — typically monthly, quarterly, or annually. The balance (saldo) recognized at the close of each period (saldo de cierre de período) bears interest from the close date until payment, at the agreed conventional interest rate not exceeding the Tasa Máxima Convencional (TMC) under Ley N° 18.010.

The Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF) supervises financial institutions' use of cuenta corriente mercantil structures in trade finance and interbank transactions. Major Chilean commercial banks — Banco de Chile, BancoEstado, Banco Santander Chile, Banco BCI, and Scotiabank Chile — use cuenta corriente mercantil frameworks for correspondent banking relationships and for managing reciprocal credit facilities with large corporate clients. The Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII) requires that cuenta corriente mercantil transactions be properly documented in the parties' accounting records (libros de contabilidad) and that interest income be declared for impuesto a la renta purposes.

A Merchant Current Account Agreement Chile is needed whenever two merchants (comerciantes) engaged in frequent reciprocal transactions wish to consolidate their bilateral credit and debit flows into a single running account, avoiding the administrative burden of individual settlement for each transaction.

Wholesale suppliers (proveedores mayoristas) and retail chains in Chile's food and consumer goods sectors — Walmart Chile (operating Líder, Express de Lider, and Ekono), Cencosud (operating Jumbo, Santa Isabel, and Easy), and SMU (operating Unimarc) — maintain cuenta corriente mercantil arrangements with their major suppliers, under which deliveries of goods are remesas credited to the supplier's side of the account, and payments are debits against the same account, with monthly settlement of the net balance.

Construction companies (empresas constructoras) listed in the Registro Nacional de Constructores of the Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo (MINVU) and their subcontractors (subcontratistas) and materials suppliers use cuenta corriente mercantil frameworks to manage the continuous flow of construction services, materials deliveries, and progress payments over the life of a construction project — avoiding the need for individual invoicing and settlement for each transaction.

Agricultural cooperatives (cooperativas agrícolas) registered with the Departamento de Cooperativas of the Ministerio de Economía — such as those in Chile's wine regions (Región de O'Higgins, Región del Maule) and fruit-growing regions — use cuenta corriente mercantil arrangements with their members (socios cooperativistas) to record harvest deliveries, processing charges, input supplies, and seasonal advance payments in a single running account, settled annually after the harvest is sold.

Export trading companies (empresas comercializadoras de exportación) and their Chilean suppliers use cuenta corriente mercantil structures to manage reciprocal flows of product deliveries, quality deductions, promotional contributions, and payment advances, particularly when the trading relationship involves continuous flows across multiple product categories.

Professional service firms — law firms (estudios jurídicos), accounting firms (empresas de auditoría), and engineering consultancies — that provide ongoing services to a single client over extended periods use cuenta corriente mercantil arrangements to consolidate monthly billings, disbursements, retainers, and fee credits into a single account settled quarterly or annually.

A valid Merchant Current Account Agreement Chile under Código de Comercio Articles 602–617 must contain the following essential elements:

Party Identification (Individualización de las Partes): Full legal names, RUT (Rol Único Tributario) of the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII), domicilio, and commercial activity (giro comercial) of both cuentacorrentistas (account parties). Both parties must be merchants (comerciantes) — persons who regularly engage in commercial acts (actos de comercio) as defined by Código de Comercio Article 3. The contract should specify whether each party is a persona natural (individual merchant) or persona jurídica (commercial company — sociedad anónima, sociedad de responsabilidad limitada, or empresa individual de responsabilidad limitada — EIRL).

Account Description and Scope (Descripción y Alcance de la Cuenta): A precise definition of what transactions (remesas) are included in the cuenta corriente mercantil — goods supplied, services rendered, payment advances, interest charges, commission fees, quality deductions — and what transactions are excluded. The scope defines which bilateral flows are novated into the running account and which remain subject to individual settlement.

Accounting Period and Settlement (Período de Liquidación y Cierre): The interval at which the account is balanced and the saldo (net balance) is determined — monthly (mensual), quarterly (trimestral), or annual (anual). Under Código de Comercio Article 605, if no period is agreed, each party may demand liquidation at any time with prior notice. The settlement process — who prepares the account statement (estado de cuenta), the deadline for the other party to accept or dispute it, and the dispute resolution mechanism — should be specified in detail.

Interest Rate (Tasa de Interés): The conventional interest rate (tasa de interés convencional) applicable to: (i) each remesa from the date it is posted to the account until settlement (interés corriente sobre remesas); and (ii) the outstanding saldo from the settlement date until payment (interés moratorio sobre saldo). Under Código de Comercio Article 607, interest on the cuenta corriente mercantil is calculated from the date of each credit entry. The interest rate must not exceed the Tasa Máxima Convencional (TMC) under Ley N° 18.010 Article 6, as published monthly by the Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF).

Novation Effect (Efecto Novatorio): An explicit acknowledgment that, consistent with Código de Comercio Article 611, all remesas posted to the account are novated — the individual obligations (facturas, letras de cambio, pagarés, debit notes) lose their independent legal character once entered in the cuenta corriente mercantil. Both parties acknowledge that they waive individual claims for each transaction and agree that only the account balance (saldo) may be demanded during the account's term.

Closing Balance as Título Ejecutivo (Saldo como Título Ejecutivo): A clause confirming that the saldo determined at the close of each period, once acknowledged by both parties (either expressly or by expiry of the dispute period without objection), constitutes a liquid and enforceable obligation (obligación líquida y exigible) that the debtor party must pay within a specified deadline. The acknowledged saldo constitutes a título ejecutivo under CPC Article 434 N° 1 (written instrument acknowledged by the debtor) or CPC Article 434 N° 3 (settlement agreement — transacción), enabling the creditor to enforce collection through juicio ejecutivo before the Juzgado de Letras Civil without a prior declaratory judgment.

Termination and Liquidation (Término y Liquidación): The circumstances and procedures for closing the cuenta corriente mercantil — mutual agreement, expiry of a fixed term, insolvency (declaración de quiebra or Procedimiento Concursal de Liquidación under Ley N° 20.720), death of a natural person cuentacorrentista, or judicial order. Upon closing, the final saldo is calculated and the debtor party must pay within the agreed deadline.

Forms-legal.com provides this Merchant Current Account Chile template as a reference for comerciantes establishing reciprocal credit relationships. Given the complex novation effects and the interaction with Chilean insolvency law under Ley N° 20.720, both parties should consult an abogado specializing in derecho comercial before executing the contract. Los usuarios de forms-legal.com pueden descargar este documento de forma gratuita en formato PDF o DOCX, completar los campos del formulario guiado y obtener un documento listo para firma.