Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Purchases of Bank Checks and Drafts, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, and Traveler's Checks, 76187-76190 [2024-21079]
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 17, 2024 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Renewal;
Comment Request; Renewal Without
Change of Purchases of Bank Checks
and Drafts, Cashier’s Checks, Money
Orders, and Traveler’s Checks
Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network (FinCEN), Treasury.
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:
As part of its continuing effort
to reduce paperwork and respondent
burden, FinCEN invites comments on
the proposed renewal, without change,
of existing information collection
requirements found in Bank Secrecy Act
regulations that require financial
institutions to maintain records related
to the issuance or sale of bank checks
and drafts, cashier’s checks, money
orders, and traveler’s checks when the
issuance or sale involves the use of
currency in an amount between $3,000
and $10,000, inclusive. This request for
comments is made pursuant to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Written comments are welcome
and must be received on or before
November 18, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be
submitted by any of the following
methods:
• Federal E-rulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Refer to Docket Number FINCEN–2024–
0017 and Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) control number 1506–
0057.
• Mail: Policy Division, Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network, P.O. Box
39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket
Number FINCEN–2024–0017 and OMB
control number 1506–0057.
Please submit comments by one
method only. Comments will be
reviewed consistent with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 and applicable
OMB regulations and guidance. All
comments submitted in response to this
notice will become a matter of public
record. Therefore, you should submit
only information that you wish to make
publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
FinCEN’s Regulatory Support Section at
1–800–767–2825, or electronically at
frc@fincen.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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SUMMARY:
I. Statutory and Regulatory Provisions
The legislative framework generally
referred to as the Bank Secrecy Act
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(BSA) consists of the Currency and
Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of
1970, as amended by the Uniting and
Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept
and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001
(USA PATRIOT Act) 1 and other
legislation, including the Anti-Money
Laundering Act of 2020 (AML Act).2
The BSA is codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b,
1951–1960 and 31 U.S.C. 5311–5314,
5316–5336, including notes thereto,
with implementing regulations at 31
CFR chapter X.
The BSA authorizes the Secretary of
the Treasury (Secretary) to, inter alia,
require financial institutions to keep
records and file reports that are
determined to have a high degree of
usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory
matters, risk assessments or
proceedings, or in the conduct of
intelligence or counter-intelligence
activities to protect against terrorism,
and to implement anti-money
laundering/countering the financing of
terrorism (AML/CFT) programs and
compliance procedures.3 The authority
of the Secretary to administer the BSA
has been delegated to the Director of
FinCEN.4
The BSA prohibits financial
institutions from issuing any ‘‘bank
check, cashier’s check, traveler’s check,
or money order to any individual in
connection with a transaction or group
of such contemporaneous transactions
which involves United States coins or
currency (or such other monetary
instruments as the Secretary may
prescribe) in amounts or denominations
of $3,000 or more’’ unless the individual
either (1) has a verified transaction
account with the financial institution; or
(2) furnishes the financial institution
with the information required by
regulations and that information is
verified and recorded by the financial
institution, along with the method of
account verification or the information
required to be furnished.5 To implement
these requirements, FinCEN issued a
regulation requiring financial
institutions to maintain records related
1 USA PATRIOT Act, Public Law 107–56, 115
Stat. 272 (2001).
2 The AML Act was enacted as Division F,
sections 6001–6511, of the William M. (Mac)
Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2021, Public Law 116–283, 134 Stat.
3388.
3 See 31 U.S.C. 5311.
4 Treasury Order 180–01 (Jan. 14, 2020); see also
31 U.S.C. 310(b)(2)(I) (providing that FinCEN
Director ‘‘[a]dminister the requirements of
subchapter II of chapter 53 of this title, chapter 2
of title I of Public Law 91–508, and section 21 of
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, to the extent
delegated such authority by the Secretary.’’).
5 31 U.S.C. 5325.
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76187
to the issuance or sale of bank checks
and drafts, cashier’s checks, money
orders, and traveler’s checks.6 The
regulation applies to all financial
institutions as defined in 31 CFR
1010.100(t). However, as a practical
matter banks and money services
businesses (MSBs) are the types of
financial institutions most likely to
issue or sell bank checks and drafts,
cashier’s checks, money orders, and
traveler’s checks.7 8
Under 31 CFR 1010.415, financial
institutions are required to maintain
records of certain information related to
the issuance or sale of bank checks and
drafts, cashier’s checks, money orders,
and traveler’s checks when the issuance
or sale involves currency between
$3,000 and $10,000, inclusive, to any
individual purchaser of one or more of
these instruments. Under 31 CFR
1010.415(a)(1)(i), if the purchaser has a
deposit account with the financial
institution, the financial institution is
required to maintain records of: (A) the
6 31 CFR 1010.415. This regulation was originally
published in 1990 as 31 CFR 103.29. See
Amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act Regulations
Relating to Identification Required to Purchase
Bank Checks and Drafts, Cashier’s Checks, Money
Orders and Traveler’s Checks, 55 FR 20139 (May
15, 1990). It was modified slightly in 1994. See
FinCEN, Amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act
Regulations Relating to Identification Required to
Purchase Bank Checks and Drafts, Cashier’s
Checks, Money Orders, and Traveler’s Checks, 59
FR 52250 (Oct. 17, 1994).
7 31 CFR 1010.100(t) defines financial institution
to include: banks; brokers or dealers in securities;
MSBs, telegraph companies; casinos and card clubs;
persons subject to supervision by any state or
Federal bank supervisory authority; futures
commission merchants, introducing brokers in
commodities; and mutual funds. It is FinCEN’s
assessment that banks and MSBs are the only types
of financial institutions as defined under 31 CFR
1010.100(t) that are in the business of issuing or
selling bank checks and drafts, cashier’s checks,
money orders, and traveler’s checks.
8 31 CFR 1010.100(ff)(3) defines an MSB that is
an issuer or seller of traveler’s checks or money
orders as a person that issues or sells traveler’s
checks or money orders in an amount greater than
$1,000 to any person on any day in one or more
transactions. FinCEN can estimate the number of
principal MSBs that report that they are issuers
and/or sellers of money orders or traveler’s checks
on FinCEN Form 107—Registration of Money
Services Businesses (RMSB). However, FinCEN
cannot estimate the number of agent MSBs that may
be issuers and/or sellers of money orders or
traveler’s checks. FinCEN assesses that given that
an MSB is only defined as an issuer and/or seller
of traveler’s check if it issues or sells money orders
and/or traveler’s checks that accumulate to greater
than $1,000 to any one person on any day in one
or more transactions that most agent MSBs are less
likely to reach the $1,000 threshold that would
warrant compliance with 31 CFR 1010.415. For that
reason, the burden estimates to comply with this
information collection as described in tables 1 and
2 below only account for principal MSBs that have
reported on the RMSB that they are issuers and/or
sellers of money orders or traveler’s checks. The
threshold of between $3,000 and $10,000 to comply
with 31 CFR 1010.415 makes it even more unlikely
that agent MSBs are engaged in such transactions.
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 17, 2024 / Notices
name of the purchaser; (B) the date of
purchase; (C) the type(s) of
instrument(s) purchased; (D) the serial
number(s) of each of the instrument(s)
purchased; and (E) the amount in
dollars of each of the instrument(s)
purchased. Under 31 CFR
1010.415(a)(1)(ii), the financial
institution must also verify that the
individual is a deposit accountholder or
must verify the individual’s identity.9
Under 31 CFR 1010.415(a)(2)(i), if the
purchaser does not have a deposit
account with the financial institution,
the financial institution must maintain
a record of: (A) the name and address
of the purchaser; (B) the social security
number of the purchaser, or if the
purchaser is an alien and does not have
a social security number, the alien
identification number; (C) the date of
birth of the purchaser; (D) the date of
the purchase; (E) the type(s) of
instrument(s) purchased; (F) the serial
number(s) of the instrument(s)
purchased; and (G) the amount in
dollars of each of the instrument(s)
purchased. Under 31 CFR
1010.415(a)(2)(ii), the financial
institution must also verify the
purchaser’s name and address by
examination of a document that is
normally acceptable as a means of
identification when cashing checks for
nondepositors and that contains the
name and address of the purchaser, and
must also record the specific identifying
information.
Under 31 CFR 1010.415(b), financial
institutions must treat contemporaneous
purchases of the same or different types
of instruments totaling $3,000 or more
as one purchase. Multiple purchases
during one business day totaling $3,000
or more must be treated as one purchase
if an individual employee, director,
officer, or partner of the financial
institution has knowledge that these
purchases have occurred.
Under 31 CFR 1010.415(c), financial
institutions must retain all required
records for a period of five years and
make those records available to the
Secretary upon request at any time.
II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA) 10
Title: Purchases of bank checks and
drafts, cashier’s checks, money orders,
and traveler’s checks (31 CFR 1010.415).
OMB Control Number: 1506–0057.
Report Number: Not applicable.
Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this
notice to renew the OMB control
number for the recordkeeping
requirement for the issuance or sale of
bank checks and drafts, cashier’s
checks, money orders, and traveler’s
checks when the issuance or sale
involves the use currency in an amount
between $3,000 and 10,000, inclusive.
Affected Public: Businesses or other
for-profit institutions, and non-profit
institutions.
Type of Review: Renewal without
change of a currently approved
information collection.
Frequency: As required.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
23,207 financial institutions.11
Estimated Recordkeeping Burden:
In Part 1 of this analysis, FinCEN
describes the distribution of the
estimated number of financial
institutions by type affected by the
regulatory requirements. In Part 2,
FinCEN describes the primary
characteristics of the regulatory
requirements. In addition, in Part 2,
FinCEN proposes for review and
comment a renewal of the calculation of
the annual PRA burden that includes a
scope and methodology similar to that
used in the 2021 notice to renew these
information collection requirements.12
Part 1. Distribution of the Financial
Institutions Covered by This Notice
The distribution of financial
institutions, by type, covered by this
notice is reflected in table 1 below:
TABLE 1—DISTRIBUTION OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS COVERED BY THIS NOTICE, BY TYPE OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTION
Number of
financial
institutions
Type of financial institution
Banks ...................................................................................................................................................................................................
Banks with a Federal functional regulator (FFR) .........................................................................................................................
Banks lacking an FFR ..................................................................................................................................................................
Principal MSBS—Issuers/Sellers of Money Orders/Traveler’s Checks c ............................................................................................
Principal MSBs—Issuers/Sellers of Money Orders Only .............................................................................................................
Principal MSBs—Issuers/Sellers of Money Orders and Traveler’s Checks ................................................................................
Principal MSBs—Issuers/Sellers of Traveler’s Checks Only .......................................................................................................
Total .......................................................................................................................................................................................
10,062
a 9,462
b 600
13,145
11,764
1,318
63
23,207
a This
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estimate of the total number of banks with an FFR, including credit unions, is based on end of year 2023 data as provided by each of
the FFRs, respectively. The FFRs are the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the National Credit Union Administration.
b This estimate of active entries as of year-end 2023 was derived in consultation with staff from the Internal Revenue Service’s Small Business/
Self-Employed Division and incorporates data from both public and non-public sources, including: Call Reports; various State banking/financial institution regulators’ websites and directories; the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Master Account and Services database (https://federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/master-account-and services-database-exisiting-access.htm); and data from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF).
c This number is derived from data as self-reported by MSBs identified as active at year-end 2023 in FinCEN’s publicly available MSB registration database. FinCEN, MSB Registrant Search, available at https://www.fincen.gov/msb-state-selector (downloaded Feb. 28, 2024).
9 31 CFR 1010.415(a)(1)(ii) (stating that
‘‘[v]erification may be either through a signature
card or other file or record at the financial
institution provided the deposit accountholder’s
name and address were verified previously and that
information was recorded on the signature card or
other file or record; or by examination of a
document which is normally acceptable as a means
of identification when cashing checks for
nondepositors and which contains the name and
address of the purchaser. If the deposit
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accountholder’s identity has not been verified
previously, the financial institution may only verify
the deposit accountholder’s identity by examination
of a document which is normally acceptable within
the banking community as a means of identification
when cashing checks for nondepositors and which
contains the name and address of the purchaser,
and must also record the specific identifying
information (e.g., State of issuance and number of
driver’s license))’’.
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10 Public Law 104–13, 109 Stat. 163 (codified at
44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).
11 Table 1 below describes the distribution of the
types of financial institutions covered by this
notice.
12 See FinCEN, Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Renewal; Comment Request;
Renewal Without Change of Purchases of Bank
Checks and Drafts, Cashier’s Checks, Money Orders,
and Traveler’s Checks, 86 FR 6411 (Jan. 21, 2021).
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In connection with a variety of
initiatives FinCEN is undertaking to
implement the AML Act, FinCEN
intends to conduct, in the future,
additional assessments of the PRA
burden associated with BSA
requirements.
Part 2. Annual PRA Burden and Cost
The scope of the annual PRA burden
and cost estimates in this renewal
encompasses the incremental
recordkeeping requirements for FinCEN
purposes that are associated with the
issuance or sale of bank checks and
drafts, cashier’s checks, money orders,
and traveler’s checks between $3,000
and $10,000, inclusive. FinCEN
continues to assign an estimate of the
incremental annual average hourly
burden of creating and maintaining
records for the issuance or sale of bank
checks and drafts, cashier’s checks,
money orders, or traveler’s checks to
individual purchasers when the sale
involves currency between $3,000 and
$10,000, inclusive, that is
approximately seven and a half hours
per covered financial institution,
irrespective of the volume of such
transactions.13 This estimate covers the
expected average incremental
recordkeeping burden for FinCEN
purposes of (1) verifying the identity of
depository accountholder and other
customers purchasing bank checks and
drafts, cashier’s checks, money orders,
or traveler’s checks when the issuance
or sale involves currency between
$3,000 and $10,000, inclusive; and (2)
creating and maintaining records of
certain information for a minimum of
five years to be made available to the
Secretary upon request.14
FinCEN’s estimate of the total annual
PRA burden (174,053 hours) includes
the recordkeeping requirements being
renewed in this notice, detailed in table
2 below:
TABLE 2—DISTRIBUTION OF ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL BURDEN HOURS OF MAINTAINING RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS FOR ISSUANCE/SALE OF BANK CHECKS AND DRAFTS, CASHIER’S CHECKS, MONEY ORDERS, OR TRAVELER’S
CHECKS
Affected financial institution type
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Average annual
burden estimate
per financial
institution
in hours
Number of
financial
institutions
Total annual
burden hours
Banks .....................................................................................................................................
Issuers/sellers of money orders ............................................................................................
Issuers/sellers of money orders and traveler’s checks .........................................................
Issuers/sellers of travel checks .............................................................................................
10,062
11,764
1,318
63
7.5
7.5
7.5
7.5
75,465
88,230
9,885
473
Total annual burden hours .............................................................................................
........................
..............................
174,053
13 FinCEN does not have access to enough of the
requisite data to estimate the volume of bank checks
and drafts, cashier’s checks, money orders, and/or
traveler’s checks or the typical currency value of the
relevant products that are issued or sold by any one
covered financial institution in a given year.
FinCEN’s PRA estimates of the number of affected
financial institutions include all identified, active
entities in the respective categories of financial
institutions that issue or sell the financial
instruments covered by this control renewal.
However, to the extent that SAR filings related to
money orders or traveler’s checks might proxy for
the number of entities that regularly issue or sell
such financial instruments in dollar values that
would incur an incremental recordkeeping burden
for FinCEN purposes, the number of affected
financial institutions is likely two to three orders of
magnitude smaller than then number of financial
institutions to whom the rule applies. For example,
between 2014 and 2023, the number of unique
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MSBs that filed SARs related to money orders
ranged between a minimum of 1.7 (in 2024) and a
maximum of 2.7 (2015) percent of the current
estimate of affected MSBs. Over the same time
period the number of unique MSBs that filed SARs
related to traveler’s checks ranged from a minimum
of 0.02 (in 2020) to a maximum of 0.09 (in 2016)
percent of the population of affected MSBs
estimated in table 2. Thus, while certain financial
institutions, or types of affected financial
institutions, may expect to incur a substantially
higher incremental annual burden, FinCEN expects
many other financial institutions may not incur any
incremental recordkeeping burden at all due to the
nature of their business practices. FinCEN therefore
continues to assign an estimated average
incremental annual hourly burden per financial
institutions to comply with this information
collection of seven and half hours that reflects this
expectation about the distribution of affected
financial institutions. FinCEN invites comments
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regarding information relevant to the calculation of
burden—ideally from sources and collection
methods that provide sufficient transparency and
reliability for FinCEN to be confident in using that
information in its calculations.
14 This estimated burden, particularly with
respect to depository customers of a bank, is
intended to be distinct from the burden estimated
in connection with a bank’s compliance with its
ordinary customer identification program (CIP)
obligations under 31 CFR 1020.220. FinCEN
recently published its burden estimates related to
CIP requirements and solicited public comment on
those estimates separately. See FinCEN, Agency
Information Collection Activities; Proposed
Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without
Change of the Customer Identification Program
Regulatory Requirements, 89 FR 51940 (June 20,
2024).
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 17, 2024 / Notices
FinCEN is utilizing the same fully
loaded composite hourly wage rate of
$106.30 utilized in the 2024 notices of
proposed rulemaking (NPRMs) entitled
Customer Identification Programs for
Registered Investment Advisers and
Exempt Reporting Companies and AntiMoney Laundering and Countering the
Financing of Terrorism Programs, as
well as in recent 60-Day Notices to
renew OMB control numbers
corresponding to specific BSA
regulations.15
The total estimated cost of the annual
PRA burden is $18,501,833.90, as
reflected in table 3 below:
TABLE 3—ESTIMATED TOTAL COST OF ANNUAL PRA BURDEN
Regulatory requirement
Wage rate
Total cost
Verifying and maintaining records ...............................................................................................
174,053
$106.30
$18,501,833.90
Total annual cost ..................................................................................................................
........................
....................
18,501,833.90
Estimated Number of Respondents:
23,207, as set out in table 1.
Estimated Total Annual
Recordkeeping Burden: The estimated
total annual PRA burden is 174,053
hours, as set out in table 2.
Estimated Total Annual
Recordkeeping Cost: The estimated total
annual PRA cost is $18,501,833.90, as
set out in table 3.
An Agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless the collection of information
displays a valid OMB control number.
Records required to be retained under
the BSA must be retained for five years.
Request for Comments: Comments
submitted in response to this notice will
be summarized and/or included in the
request for OMB approval. All
comments will become a matter of
public record. Comments are invited on:
(1) whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information shall have practical utility;
(2) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden of the collection of
information; (3) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including
through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology; and (5) estimates of capital
or start-up costs and costs of operation,
maintenance, and purchase of services
to provide information.
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Burden hours
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Internal Revenue Service
Open Meeting of the Taxpayer
Advocacy Panel’s Tax Forms and
Publications Project Committee
BILLING CODE 4830–01–P
ACTION:
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Notice of meeting.
An open meeting of the
Taxpayer Advocacy Panel’s Tax Forms
and Publications Project Committee will
be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy
Panel is soliciting public comments,
ideas, and suggestions on improving
customer service at the Internal Revenue
Service. This meeting will be held via
teleconference.
SUMMARY:
The meeting will be held
Thursday, October 10, 2024.
DATES:
Ann
Tabat at 1–888–912–1227 or (602) 636–
9143.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
15 See, e.g., FinCEN and SEC, NPRM Customer
Identification Programs for Registered Investment
Advisers and Exempt Reporting Advisers, 89 FR
44571 (May 21, 2024); FinCEN, NPRM Anti-Money
Laundering and Countering the Financing of
Terrorism Programs NPRM, 89 FR 55428 (July 3,
2024); FinCEN, Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Renewal; Comment Request;
Renewal Without Change of the Customer
Identification Program Regulatory Requirements for
Certain Financial Institutions, 89 FR 51940 (June
20, 2024); FinCEN, Agency Information Collection
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17:12 Sep 16, 2024
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[FR Doc. 2024–21045 Filed 9–16–24; 8:45 am]
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Treasury.
BILLING CODE 4810–02–P
[FR Doc. 2024–21079 Filed 9–16–24; 8:45 am]
Dated: September 9, 2024.
Shawn Collins,
Director, Taxpayer Advocacy Panel.
AGENCY:
Notice is
hereby given pursuant to section
10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. (1988) that
a meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy
Panel’s Tax Forms and Publications
Project Committee will be held
Thursday, October 10, 2024, at 2:30 p.m.
eastern time. The public is invited to
make oral comments or submit written
statements for consideration. Due to
limited time and structure of meeting,
notification of intent to participate must
be made with Ann Tabat. For more
information, please contact Ann Tabat
at 1–888–912–1227 or (602) 636–9143,
or write TAP Office, 4041 N Central
Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85012 or contact us
at the website: https://
www.improveirs.org. The agenda will
Andrea M. Gacki,
Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network.
include TAP 2024 committee project
focus areas.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Internal Revenue Service
Open Meeting of the Taxpayer
Advocacy Panel’s Special Projects
Committee
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Treasury.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
AGENCY:
An open meeting of the
Taxpayer Advocacy Panel’s Special
Projects Committee will be conducted.
The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is
soliciting public comments, ideas, and
suggestions on improving customer
service at the Internal Revenue Service.
This meeting will be held via
teleconference.
DATES: The meeting will be held
Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Antoinette Ross at 1–888–912–1227 or
202–317–4110.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is
hereby given pursuant to section
10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. (1988) that
an open meeting of the Taxpayer
Advocacy Panel’s Special Projects
Committee will be held Wednesday,
October 9, 2024, at 11 a.m. eastern time.
The public is invited to make oral
comments or submit written statements
for consideration. Due to limited time
and structure of meeting, notification of
SUMMARY:
Activities; Proposed Renewal; Comment Request;
Renewal Without Change of Due Diligence
Programs for Correspondent Accounts for Foreign
Financial Institutions and for Private Banking
Accounts, 89 FR 49273, (June 11, 2024).
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 17, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76187-76190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-21079]
[[Page 76187]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal;
Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Purchases of Bank Checks and
Drafts, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, and Traveler's Checks
AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Treasury.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, FinCEN invites comments on the proposed renewal,
without change, of existing information collection requirements found
in Bank Secrecy Act regulations that require financial institutions to
maintain records related to the issuance or sale of bank checks and
drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, and traveler's checks when the
issuance or sale involves the use of currency in an amount between
$3,000 and $10,000, inclusive. This request for comments is made
pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Written comments are welcome and must be received on or before
November 18, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
Federal E-rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Refer to Docket Number
FINCEN-2024-0017 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control
number 1506-0057.
Mail: Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket Number FINCEN-
2024-0017 and OMB control number 1506-0057.
Please submit comments by one method only. Comments will be
reviewed consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and
applicable OMB regulations and guidance. All comments submitted in
response to this notice will become a matter of public record.
Therefore, you should submit only information that you wish to make
publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FinCEN's Regulatory Support Section at
1-800-767-2825, or electronically at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Statutory and Regulatory Provisions
The legislative framework generally referred to as the Bank Secrecy
Act (BSA) consists of the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting
Act of 1970, as amended by the Uniting and Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) \1\ and other legislation,
including the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AML Act).\2\ The BSA
is codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b, 1951-1960 and 31 U.S.C. 5311-5314,
5316-5336, including notes thereto, with implementing regulations at 31
CFR chapter X.
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\1\ USA PATRIOT Act, Public Law 107-56, 115 Stat. 272 (2001).
\2\ The AML Act was enacted as Division F, sections 6001-6511,
of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Public Law 116-283, 134 Stat. 3388.
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The BSA authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) to,
inter alia, require financial institutions to keep records and file
reports that are determined to have a high degree of usefulness in
criminal, tax, or regulatory matters, risk assessments or proceedings,
or in the conduct of intelligence or counter-intelligence activities to
protect against terrorism, and to implement anti-money laundering/
countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs and compliance
procedures.\3\ The authority of the Secretary to administer the BSA has
been delegated to the Director of FinCEN.\4\
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\3\ See 31 U.S.C. 5311.
\4\ Treasury Order 180-01 (Jan. 14, 2020); see also 31 U.S.C.
310(b)(2)(I) (providing that FinCEN Director ``[a]dminister the
requirements of subchapter II of chapter 53 of this title, chapter 2
of title I of Public Law 91-508, and section 21 of the Federal
Deposit Insurance Act, to the extent delegated such authority by the
Secretary.'').
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The BSA prohibits financial institutions from issuing any ``bank
check, cashier's check, traveler's check, or money order to any
individual in connection with a transaction or group of such
contemporaneous transactions which involves United States coins or
currency (or such other monetary instruments as the Secretary may
prescribe) in amounts or denominations of $3,000 or more'' unless the
individual either (1) has a verified transaction account with the
financial institution; or (2) furnishes the financial institution with
the information required by regulations and that information is
verified and recorded by the financial institution, along with the
method of account verification or the information required to be
furnished.\5\ To implement these requirements, FinCEN issued a
regulation requiring financial institutions to maintain records related
to the issuance or sale of bank checks and drafts, cashier's checks,
money orders, and traveler's checks.\6\ The regulation applies to all
financial institutions as defined in 31 CFR 1010.100(t). However, as a
practical matter banks and money services businesses (MSBs) are the
types of financial institutions most likely to issue or sell bank
checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, and traveler's
checks.7 8
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\5\ 31 U.S.C. 5325.
\6\ 31 CFR 1010.415. This regulation was originally published in
1990 as 31 CFR 103.29. See Amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act
Regulations Relating to Identification Required to Purchase Bank
Checks and Drafts, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders and Traveler's
Checks, 55 FR 20139 (May 15, 1990). It was modified slightly in
1994. See FinCEN, Amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act Regulations
Relating to Identification Required to Purchase Bank Checks and
Drafts, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, and Traveler's Checks, 59 FR
52250 (Oct. 17, 1994).
\7\ 31 CFR 1010.100(t) defines financial institution to include:
banks; brokers or dealers in securities; MSBs, telegraph companies;
casinos and card clubs; persons subject to supervision by any state
or Federal bank supervisory authority; futures commission merchants,
introducing brokers in commodities; and mutual funds. It is FinCEN's
assessment that banks and MSBs are the only types of financial
institutions as defined under 31 CFR 1010.100(t) that are in the
business of issuing or selling bank checks and drafts, cashier's
checks, money orders, and traveler's checks.
\8\ 31 CFR 1010.100(ff)(3) defines an MSB that is an issuer or
seller of traveler's checks or money orders as a person that issues
or sells traveler's checks or money orders in an amount greater than
$1,000 to any person on any day in one or more transactions. FinCEN
can estimate the number of principal MSBs that report that they are
issuers and/or sellers of money orders or traveler's checks on
FinCEN Form 107--Registration of Money Services Businesses (RMSB).
However, FinCEN cannot estimate the number of agent MSBs that may be
issuers and/or sellers of money orders or traveler's checks. FinCEN
assesses that given that an MSB is only defined as an issuer and/or
seller of traveler's check if it issues or sells money orders and/or
traveler's checks that accumulate to greater than $1,000 to any one
person on any day in one or more transactions that most agent MSBs
are less likely to reach the $1,000 threshold that would warrant
compliance with 31 CFR 1010.415. For that reason, the burden
estimates to comply with this information collection as described in
tables 1 and 2 below only account for principal MSBs that have
reported on the RMSB that they are issuers and/or sellers of money
orders or traveler's checks. The threshold of between $3,000 and
$10,000 to comply with 31 CFR 1010.415 makes it even more unlikely
that agent MSBs are engaged in such transactions.
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Under 31 CFR 1010.415, financial institutions are required to
maintain records of certain information related to the issuance or sale
of bank checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, and
traveler's checks when the issuance or sale involves currency between
$3,000 and $10,000, inclusive, to any individual purchaser of one or
more of these instruments. Under 31 CFR 1010.415(a)(1)(i), if the
purchaser has a deposit account with the financial institution, the
financial institution is required to maintain records of: (A) the
[[Page 76188]]
name of the purchaser; (B) the date of purchase; (C) the type(s) of
instrument(s) purchased; (D) the serial number(s) of each of the
instrument(s) purchased; and (E) the amount in dollars of each of the
instrument(s) purchased. Under 31 CFR 1010.415(a)(1)(ii), the financial
institution must also verify that the individual is a deposit
accountholder or must verify the individual's identity.\9\
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\9\ 31 CFR 1010.415(a)(1)(ii) (stating that ``[v]erification may
be either through a signature card or other file or record at the
financial institution provided the deposit accountholder's name and
address were verified previously and that information was recorded
on the signature card or other file or record; or by examination of
a document which is normally acceptable as a means of identification
when cashing checks for nondepositors and which contains the name
and address of the purchaser. If the deposit accountholder's
identity has not been verified previously, the financial institution
may only verify the deposit accountholder's identity by examination
of a document which is normally acceptable within the banking
community as a means of identification when cashing checks for
nondepositors and which contains the name and address of the
purchaser, and must also record the specific identifying information
(e.g., State of issuance and number of driver's license))''.
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Under 31 CFR 1010.415(a)(2)(i), if the purchaser does not have a
deposit account with the financial institution, the financial
institution must maintain a record of: (A) the name and address of the
purchaser; (B) the social security number of the purchaser, or if the
purchaser is an alien and does not have a social security number, the
alien identification number; (C) the date of birth of the purchaser;
(D) the date of the purchase; (E) the type(s) of instrument(s)
purchased; (F) the serial number(s) of the instrument(s) purchased; and
(G) the amount in dollars of each of the instrument(s) purchased. Under
31 CFR 1010.415(a)(2)(ii), the financial institution must also verify
the purchaser's name and address by examination of a document that is
normally acceptable as a means of identification when cashing checks
for nondepositors and that contains the name and address of the
purchaser, and must also record the specific identifying information.
Under 31 CFR 1010.415(b), financial institutions must treat
contemporaneous purchases of the same or different types of instruments
totaling $3,000 or more as one purchase. Multiple purchases during one
business day totaling $3,000 or more must be treated as one purchase if
an individual employee, director, officer, or partner of the financial
institution has knowledge that these purchases have occurred.
Under 31 CFR 1010.415(c), financial institutions must retain all
required records for a period of five years and make those records
available to the Secretary upon request at any time.
II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) 10
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\10\ Public Law 104-13, 109 Stat. 163 (codified at 44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)).
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Title: Purchases of bank checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money
orders, and traveler's checks (31 CFR 1010.415).
OMB Control Number: 1506-0057.
Report Number: Not applicable.
Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this notice to renew the OMB control
number for the recordkeeping requirement for the issuance or sale of
bank checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, and traveler's
checks when the issuance or sale involves the use currency in an amount
between $3,000 and 10,000, inclusive.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit institutions, and
non-profit institutions.
Type of Review: Renewal without change of a currently approved
information collection.
Frequency: As required.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 23,207 financial institutions.\11\
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\11\ Table 1 below describes the distribution of the types of
financial institutions covered by this notice.
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Estimated Recordkeeping Burden:
In Part 1 of this analysis, FinCEN describes the distribution of
the estimated number of financial institutions by type affected by the
regulatory requirements. In Part 2, FinCEN describes the primary
characteristics of the regulatory requirements. In addition, in Part 2,
FinCEN proposes for review and comment a renewal of the calculation of
the annual PRA burden that includes a scope and methodology similar to
that used in the 2021 notice to renew these information collection
requirements.\12\
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\12\ See FinCEN, Agency Information Collection Activities;
Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of
Purchases of Bank Checks and Drafts, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders,
and Traveler's Checks, 86 FR 6411 (Jan. 21, 2021).
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Part 1. Distribution of the Financial Institutions Covered by This
Notice
The distribution of financial institutions, by type, covered by
this notice is reflected in table 1 below:
Table 1--Distribution of Financial Institutions Covered by This Notice,
by Type of Financial Institution
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Number of
Type of financial institution financial
institutions
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Banks................................................... 10,062
Banks with a Federal functional regulator (FFR)..... \a\ 9,462
Banks lacking an FFR................................ \b\ 600
Principal MSBS--Issuers/Sellers of Money Orders/ 13,145
Traveler's Checks \c\..................................
Principal MSBs--Issuers/Sellers of Money Orders Only 11,764
Principal MSBs--Issuers/Sellers of Money Orders and 1,318
Traveler's Checks..................................
Principal MSBs--Issuers/Sellers of Traveler's Checks 63
Only...............................................
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Total........................................... 23,207
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\a\ This estimate of the total number of banks with an FFR, including
credit unions, is based on end of year 2023 data as provided by each
of the FFRs, respectively. The FFRs are the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the National Credit
Union Administration.
\b\ This estimate of active entries as of year-end 2023 was derived in
consultation with staff from the Internal Revenue Service's Small
Business/Self-Employed Division and incorporates data from both public
and non-public sources, including: Call Reports; various State banking/
financial institution regulators' websites and directories; the
Federal Reserve Board of Governors' Master Account and Services
database (https://federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/master-account-and
services-database-exisiting-access.htm); and data from the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones
Financieras (OCIF).
\c\ This number is derived from data as self-reported by MSBs identified
as active at year-end 2023 in FinCEN's publicly available MSB
registration database. FinCEN, MSB Registrant Search, available at
https://www.fincen.gov/msb-state-selector (downloaded Feb. 28, 2024).
[[Page 76189]]
In connection with a variety of initiatives FinCEN is undertaking
to implement the AML Act, FinCEN intends to conduct, in the future,
additional assessments of the PRA burden associated with BSA
requirements.
Part 2. Annual PRA Burden and Cost
The scope of the annual PRA burden and cost estimates in this
renewal encompasses the incremental recordkeeping requirements for
FinCEN purposes that are associated with the issuance or sale of bank
checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, and traveler's
checks between $3,000 and $10,000, inclusive. FinCEN continues to
assign an estimate of the incremental annual average hourly burden of
creating and maintaining records for the issuance or sale of bank
checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, or traveler's checks
to individual purchasers when the sale involves currency between $3,000
and $10,000, inclusive, that is approximately seven and a half hours
per covered financial institution, irrespective of the volume of such
transactions.\13\ This estimate covers the expected average incremental
recordkeeping burden for FinCEN purposes of (1) verifying the identity
of depository accountholder and other customers purchasing bank checks
and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, or traveler's checks when
the issuance or sale involves currency between $3,000 and $10,000,
inclusive; and (2) creating and maintaining records of certain
information for a minimum of five years to be made available to the
Secretary upon request.\14\
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\13\ FinCEN does not have access to enough of the requisite data
to estimate the volume of bank checks and drafts, cashier's checks,
money orders, and/or traveler's checks or the typical currency value
of the relevant products that are issued or sold by any one covered
financial institution in a given year. FinCEN's PRA estimates of the
number of affected financial institutions include all identified,
active entities in the respective categories of financial
institutions that issue or sell the financial instruments covered by
this control renewal. However, to the extent that SAR filings
related to money orders or traveler's checks might proxy for the
number of entities that regularly issue or sell such financial
instruments in dollar values that would incur an incremental
recordkeeping burden for FinCEN purposes, the number of affected
financial institutions is likely two to three orders of magnitude
smaller than then number of financial institutions to whom the rule
applies. For example, between 2014 and 2023, the number of unique
MSBs that filed SARs related to money orders ranged between a
minimum of 1.7 (in 2024) and a maximum of 2.7 (2015) percent of the
current estimate of affected MSBs. Over the same time period the
number of unique MSBs that filed SARs related to traveler's checks
ranged from a minimum of 0.02 (in 2020) to a maximum of 0.09 (in
2016) percent of the population of affected MSBs estimated in table
2. Thus, while certain financial institutions, or types of affected
financial institutions, may expect to incur a substantially higher
incremental annual burden, FinCEN expects many other financial
institutions may not incur any incremental recordkeeping burden at
all due to the nature of their business practices. FinCEN therefore
continues to assign an estimated average incremental annual hourly
burden per financial institutions to comply with this information
collection of seven and half hours that reflects this expectation
about the distribution of affected financial institutions. FinCEN
invites comments regarding information relevant to the calculation
of burden--ideally from sources and collection methods that provide
sufficient transparency and reliability for FinCEN to be confident
in using that information in its calculations.
\14\ This estimated burden, particularly with respect to
depository customers of a bank, is intended to be distinct from the
burden estimated in connection with a bank's compliance with its
ordinary customer identification program (CIP) obligations under 31
CFR 1020.220. FinCEN recently published its burden estimates related
to CIP requirements and solicited public comment on those estimates
separately. See FinCEN, Agency Information Collection Activities;
Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of the
Customer Identification Program Regulatory Requirements, 89 FR 51940
(June 20, 2024).
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FinCEN's estimate of the total annual PRA burden (174,053 hours)
includes the recordkeeping requirements being renewed in this notice,
detailed in table 2 below:
Table 2--Distribution of Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours of Maintaining Recordkeeping Requirements for
Issuance/Sale of Bank Checks and Drafts, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, or Traveler's Checks
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Average annual
Number of burden estimate
Affected financial institution type financial per financial Total annual
institutions institution in burden hours
hours
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Banks........................................................ 10,062 7.5 75,465
Issuers/sellers of money orders.............................. 11,764 7.5 88,230
Issuers/sellers of money orders and traveler's checks........ 1,318 7.5 9,885
Issuers/sellers of travel checks............................. 63 7.5 473
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Total annual burden hours................................ .............. ................. 174,053
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[[Page 76190]]
FinCEN is utilizing the same fully loaded composite hourly wage
rate of $106.30 utilized in the 2024 notices of proposed rulemaking
(NPRMs) entitled Customer Identification Programs for Registered
Investment Advisers and Exempt Reporting Companies and Anti-Money
Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Programs, as well
as in recent 60-Day Notices to renew OMB control numbers corresponding
to specific BSA regulations.\15\
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\15\ See, e.g., FinCEN and SEC, NPRM Customer Identification
Programs for Registered Investment Advisers and Exempt Reporting
Advisers, 89 FR 44571 (May 21, 2024); FinCEN, NPRM Anti-Money
Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Programs NPRM,
89 FR 55428 (July 3, 2024); FinCEN, Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without
Change of the Customer Identification Program Regulatory
Requirements for Certain Financial Institutions, 89 FR 51940 (June
20, 2024); FinCEN, Agency Information Collection Activities;
Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Due
Diligence Programs for Correspondent Accounts for Foreign Financial
Institutions and for Private Banking Accounts, 89 FR 49273, (June
11, 2024).
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The total estimated cost of the annual PRA burden is
$18,501,833.90, as reflected in table 3 below:
Table 3--Estimated Total Cost of Annual PRA Burden
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Regulatory requirement Burden hours Wage rate Total cost
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Verifying and maintaining records................................ 174,053 $106.30 $18,501,833.90
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Total annual cost............................................ .............. ........... 18,501,833.90
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Estimated Number of Respondents: 23,207, as set out in table 1.
Estimated Total Annual Recordkeeping Burden: The estimated total
annual PRA burden is 174,053 hours, as set out in table 2.
Estimated Total Annual Recordkeeping Cost: The estimated total
annual PRA cost is $18,501,833.90, as set out in table 3.
An Agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of
information displays a valid OMB control number. Records required to be
retained under the BSA must be retained for five years.
Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All
comments will become a matter of public record. Comments are invited
on: (1) whether the collection of information is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether
the information shall have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the
agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (3)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including through the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (5)
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation,
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
Andrea M. Gacki,
Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2024-21079 Filed 9-16-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-02-P
