Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As part of a continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comment on a renewal, without change, to information collection requirements finalized on March 15, 2006, imposing a special measure with respect to Commercial Bank of Syria, including its subsidiary, Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

FinCEN is issuing this final rule, pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, to prohibit the opening or maintaining of correspondent accounts in the United States for, or on behalf of, Iranian financial institutions, and the use of foreign financial institutions' correspondent accounts at covered U.S. financial institutions to process transactions involving Iranian financial institutions.

As part of a continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comment on a renewal, without change, to information collection requirements finalized on March 19, 2007, imposing a special measure with respect to Banco Delta Asia, including its subsidiaries Delta Asia Credit Limited and Delta Asia Insurance Limited, as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

On March 19, 2018, FinCEN published a final rule to make the 2018 annual adjustment to its civil monetary penalties (``CMPs'') for inflation as mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (collectively referred to herein as ``the Act''). The final rule adjusted CMPs within the jurisdiction of FinCEN to the maximum amount required by the Act for 2018. However, that final rule inadvertently used the 2017 annual adjustment penalty assessment dates in the penalty adjustment table, as opposed to using the 2018 annual adjustment penalty assessment dates. This document corrects the penalty assessment dates in the penalty adjustment table for the 2018 annual adjustment.

FinCEN, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, is notifying the public of its Innovation Hours Program. Through the Program, FinCEN will provide dedicated time on a monthly basis to meet with financial institutions, regulatory and financial technology firms, and other stakeholders to enable them to share information with FinCEN about innovative approaches to evaluating, maintaining and reporting information under the Bank Secrecy Act in order to further strengthen the financial system against illicit financial activity. The FinCEN Innovation Hours Program is a cornerstone of a broader FinCEN Innovation Initiative highlighted within the Joint FinCEN-Federal Banking Agency Statement on Innovation (December 3, 2018).\1\ The FinCEN Innovation Initiative seeks to promote innovation by supporting, where appropriate and feasible, innovation pilot programs, and enhanced feedback and information sharing programs. In addition, FinCEN will consider for future implementation the feasibility of incorporating demonstration and application testing capabilities to facilitate the development of innovative solutions to Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) challenges.