Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FinCEN, in consultation with staff at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) (collectively, the "Agencies"), seeks information and comment from interested parties regarding the Customer Identification Program (CIP) Rule requirement for banks to collect a taxpayer identification number (TIN), among other information, from a customer who is a U.S. person, prior to opening an account (the "TIN collection requirement"). Generally, for a customer who is an individual and a U.S. person ("U.S. individual"), the TIN is a Social Security number (SSN). In this request for information (RFI), FinCEN specifically seeks information to understand the potential risks and benefits, as well as safeguards that could be established, if banks were permitted to collect partial SSN information directly from the customer for U.S. individuals and subsequently use reputable third-party sources to obtain the full SSN prior to account opening. FinCEN seeks this information to evaluate and enhance its understanding of current industry practices and perspectives related to the CIP Rule's TIN collection requirement, and to assess the potential risks and benefits associated with a change to that requirement. This notice also serves as a reminder from FinCEN, and staff at the Agencies, that banks must continue to comply with the current CIP Rule requirement to collect a full SSN for U.S. individuals from the customer prior to opening an account ("SSN collection requirement"). This RFI also supports FinCEN's ongoing efforts to implement section 6216 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, which requires FinCEN to, among other things, identify regulations and guidance that may be outdated, redundant, or otherwise do not promote a risk-based anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comments on the proposed renewal, without change, of an existing information collection relating to records of certain domestic transactions. Specifically, if the Secretary of the Treasury finds that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that additional recordkeeping and/or reporting requirements are necessary to carry out the purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act, or to prevent evasions thereof, the Secretary may issue an order that imposes certain additional recordkeeping and reporting requirements on one or more domestic financial institutions or nonfinancial trades or businesses in a geographic area. These orders are commonly referred to as geographic targeting orders (GTOs). This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to include certain investment advisers in the definition of ``financial institution'' under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), prescribe minimum standards for anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs to be established by covered investment advisers, require covered investment advisers to report suspicious activity to FinCEN pursuant to the BSA, and make several other related changes to FinCEN regulations. FinCEN is proposing this action to address gaps in the existing AML/CFT regulatory framework in this sector. The proposed regulations will apply to investment advisers that may be at risk for misuse by money launderers, terrorist financers, or other actors who seek access to the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes via investment advisers and threaten U.S. national security.

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comment on a renewal, without change, of existing information collection requirements relating to reports of transactions in currency. Under Bank Secrecy Act regulations, financial institutions are required to report transactions in currency of more than $10,000 using FinCEN Form 112 (the currency transaction report, or CTR). This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

FinCEN invites all interested parties to comment on the proposed information collection associated with requests made to FinCEN, by certain persons, for beneficial ownership information, consistent with the requirements of the Beneficial Ownership Information Access and Safeguards final rule. The details included in the information collection are listed below. This request for comment is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.