Financial Crimes Enforcement Network – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comments on the proposed renewal, without change, of currently approved information collections 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 Report 112 (the currency transaction report, or CTR). Although no changes are proposed to the information collections themselves, this request for comments covers a proposed updated burden estimate for the information collection. This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comments on the proposed renewal, without change, to a currently approved information collection regarding registration of money services businesses regulations and FinCEN Form 107Registration of Money Services Business (``RMSB''). Money services businesses (``MSBs'') must register with FinCEN using FinCEN Form 107, renew their registration every two years, and maintain a list of their agents. This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

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.

FinCEN invites comment on a renewal, without change, of existing information collection requirements concerning reports of foreign financial accounts and FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (``FBAR''). This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995.

FinCEN invites comment on a renewal, without change, to information collections found in existing regulations requiring dealers in precious metals, stones, or jewels, to develop and implement written anti-money laundering programs reasonably designed to prevent those financial institutions from being used to facilitate money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995.

FinCEN invites comment on a proposed renewal, without change, to information collections found in regulations requiring banks, savings associations, credit unions, certain non-federally regulated banks, futures commission merchants, and introducing brokers in commodities to develop and implement customer identification programs designed to allow the covered financial institution to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of each customer. This request for comment is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995.

FinCEN invites comment on the renewal of information collections in existing regulations requiring money services businesses (``MSBs''), mutual funds, and operators of credit card systems to develop and implement written anti-money laundering programs reasonably designed to prevent those financial institutions from being used to facilitate money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995, Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on its proposed renewal without change of the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA'') Suspicious Activity Reporting regulatory requirements for residential mortgage lenders and originators. FinCEN intends to submit this requirement for approval by the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') of a three-year renewal of Control Number 1506-0061. This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995.

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on its proposed renewal without change of the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA'') Suspicious Activity Reporting requirements for money services businesses (``MSBs''). FinCEN intends to submit this requirement for approval by the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') of a three- year renewal of Control Number 1506-0015. This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995, Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA'') regulations implemented pursuant to section 104(e) of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (``CISADA'') and consistent with its statutory mission under 31 U.S.C. 310. FinCEN is proposing to renew this information collection without change. The rule requires a U.S. bank that maintains a correspondent account for a foreign bank to inquire of the foreign bank, and report to FinCEN upon written request, certain information with respect to transactions or other financial services provided by that foreign bank.

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on its proposed renewal without change of the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA'') regulations requiring Currency Transaction Reporting (``CTR'') for certain financial institutions, i.e., depository institutions, money services businesses, brokers or dealers in securities, mutual funds, futures commission merchants, and introducing brokers in commodities. FinCEN intends to submit this requirement for approval by the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for a three-year extension of Control Number 1506-0004. This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995.

FinCEN is inviting the public to nominate financial institutions, trade groups, and non-federal regulators or law enforcement agencies for membership on the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. New members will be selected for three-year membership terms.

FinCEN is making technical corrections to a final rule published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The final rule relates to certain customer due diligence standards applicable to covered financial institutions, defined as banks, brokers or dealers in securities, mutual funds, and futures commission merchants and introducing brokers in commodities. As published, the final rule contains technical errors that could cause confusion if not corrected.

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on its proposed renewal without change of the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA'') recordkeeping requirements addressed in this notice. FinCEN intends to submit these requirements for approval by the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') of a three-year extension of Control Numbers 1506-0050 through 1506-0059. This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995. In addition, FinCEN is seeking comment on 31 CFR 1010.430, the nature of records and retention period, which is not subject to the PRA because there is no information collection associated with it.\1\

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on its proposed update and renewal of the collection of information through its ``Designation of Exempt Person'' (``DoEP'') report, used by banks and other depository institutions to designate eligible customers as exempt from the requirement to report transactions in currency over $10,000. FinCEN is proposing to remove the reference to ``Document Control Number,'' which is no longer in use, and add a country field to accommodate reporting from U.S. territories in Part II following the current item 11, and Part III following the current item 23. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite comment on a proposed renewal, without change, to an information collection found in existing regulations requiring U.S. financial institutions to establish due diligence policies, procedures, and controls reasonably designed to detect and report money laundering through correspondent accounts that U.S. financial institutions establish or maintain for certain foreign financial institutions. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on its proposed update and revisions to the collection of information filings by financial institutions required to file such reports under the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA''). This notice does not propose any new regulatory requirements or changes to the requirements related to suspicious activity reporting. The data fields reflect the filing requirement for all filers of SARs under the BSA. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

FinCEN is issuing this final rule to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for, or on behalf of, North Korean banking institutions. The rule further prohibits U.S. financial institutions from processing transactions for the correspondent account of a foreign bank in the United States if such a transaction involves a North Korean financial institution, and requires institutions to apply special due diligence to guard against such use by North Korean financial institutions.

This document contains a conditional exception, pursuant to authority under the Bank Secrecy Act, which would permit certain U.S. financial institutions to maintain correspondent accounts for Burmese banks under certain conditions.

As part of our 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 (71 FR 13260, RIN 1506-AA64), imposing a special measure against the 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 (``PRA''), Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

In a finding, notice of which was published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register (``Notice of Finding''), the Director of FinCEN found that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (``North Korea'') is a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern. FinCEN is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking (``NPRM'') to propose to prohibit covered financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account in the United States for or on behalf of a North Korean banking institution and to prohibit the use of foreign banking institutions' correspondent accounts at covered U.S. financial institutions to process transactions involving North Korean financial institutions.