31 CFR Part 1010, Subpart A - General Definitions

In its September 20, 2016 order, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia remanded to FinCEN the final rule imposing a prohibition on covered financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts for, or on behalf of, FBME Bank, Ltd. In its memorandum opinion accompanying that order, the Court stated that the agency had not responded meaningfully to FBME's comments regarding the agency's treatment of aggregate Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) data. The Court found that those comments challenged FinCEN's interpretation of SAR data on at least four distinct grounds. In this supplement to the final rule, FinCEN provides further explanation addressing FBME's comments.

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.

FinCEN is issuing this final rule to make a number of technical amendments. This final rule updates various sections of the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) by removing or replacing outdated references to obsolete BSA forms, removing references to outdated recordkeeping storage media, and replacing several other outdated terms and references.

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.

FinCEN is issuing this proposed rule to implement section 326 of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 and to remove the anti-money laundering program exemption for banks that lack a Federal functional regulator, including, but not limited to, private banks, non-federally insured credit unions, and certain trust companies. The proposed rule would prescribe minimum standards for anti-money laundering programs for banks without a Federal functional regulator to ensure that all banks, regardless of whether they are subject to Federal regulation and oversight, are required to establish and implement anti-money laundering programs, and would extend customer identification program requirements and beneficial ownership requirements to those banks not already subject to these requirements.

FinCEN is amending the regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act to adjust the maximum amount or range, as set by statute, of certain civil monetary penalties within its jurisdiction to account for inflation. This action is being taken to implement the requirements of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as further amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.

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.

FinCEN is issuing final rules under the Bank Secrecy Act to clarify and strengthen customer due diligence requirements for: Banks; brokers or dealers in securities; mutual funds; and futures commission merchants and introducing brokers in commodities. The rules contain explicit customer due diligence requirements and include a new requirement to identify and verify the identity of beneficial owners of legal entity customers, subject to certain exclusions and exemptions.

FinCEN, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, is proposing amendments to the definitions of “broker or dealer in securities” and “broker-dealer” under the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act. This rulemaking would amend those definitions explicitly to include funding portals that are involved in the offering or selling of crowdfunding securities pursuant to section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act of 1933. The consequence of those amendments would be that funding portals would be required to implement policies and procedures reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act requirements currently applicable to brokers or dealers in securities. The proposal to specifically require funding portals to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act regulations is intended to help prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.

In a Notice of Finding (NOF) published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2014, FinCEN found that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that FBME Bank Ltd. (FBME), formerly known as the Federal Bank of the Middle East Ltd., is a financial institution of primary money laundering concern pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Section 311). On the same date, FinCEN also published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to propose the imposition of a special measure authorized by Section 311 against FBME and opened a comment period that closed on September 22, 2014. On July 29, 2015, FinCEN published in the Federal Register a final rule imposing the fifth special measure, which the United States District Court for the District of Columbia subsequently enjoined before the rule's effective date of August 28, 2015. FinCEN is issuing this final rule imposing a prohibition on U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for, or on behalf of, FBME in place of the rule published on July 29, 2015.

FinCEN, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”), is proposing to revise the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) regarding Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”). The proposed rule would expand and clarify the exemptions for certain U.S. persons with signature or other authority over foreign financial accounts. In addition, the proposed rule would remove the special rules permitting limited account information to be reported when a U.S. person has financial interest in or signature authority over 25 or more foreign financial accounts. The proposed rule would also make several other changes, including a change to the filing date for FBAR reports due in 2017 and a revision to reflect electronic filing of FBARs.

This document withdraws FinCEN's notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to impose the fifth special measure regarding Banca Privada d'Andorra (“BPA”), pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (“Section 311”), codified at 31 U.S.C. 5318A. Because of material subsequent developments that have mitigated the money laundering risks associated with BPA, FinCEN has determined that BPA is no longer a primary money laundering concern that warrants the implementation of a special measure under Section 311. Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, FinCEN is publishing a withdrawal of the related finding regarding BPA.

This document withdraws FinCEN's finding that Liberty Reserve S.A. (“Liberty Reserve”) is a financial institution of primary money laundering concern and the related notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to impose the fifth special measure regarding Liberty Reserve, pursuant to section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (“Section 311”). Because of material subsequent developments that have mitigated the money laundering risks associated with Liberty Reserve, FinCEN has determined that Liberty Reserve is no longer a primary money laundering concern that warrants the implementation of a special measure under Section 311.

By this notice, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) announces the availability of two related documents that are part of the Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions Proposed Rulemaking: A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) and an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA).

On July 29, 2015, FinCEN issued a Final Rule imposing the fifth special measure against FBME Bank Ltd. (FBME), formerly known as the Federal Bank of the Middle East, Ltd., with an effective date of August 28, 2015. On August 27, 2015, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted FBME's motion for a preliminary injunction and enjoined the Final Rule from taking effect. On November 6, 2015, the Court granted the Government's motion for voluntary remand to allow for further rulemaking proceedings. FinCEN is hereby re-opening the Final Rule to solicit additional comment in connection with the rulemaking, particularly with respect to the unclassified, non-protected documents that support the rulemaking and whether any alternatives to the prohibition of the opening or maintaining of correspondent accounts with FBME would effectively mitigate the risk to domestic financial institutions.

This document withdraws FinCEN's February 17, 2011, proposed rulemaking to impose the fifth special measure against Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL (“LCB”) as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern, pursuant to the United States Code (U.S.C.).

In a Notice of Finding (NOF) published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2014, the Director of FinCEN found that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that FBME Bank Ltd. (FBME), formerly known as the Federal Bank of the Middle East, Ltd., is a financial institution of primary money laundering concern pursuant to the United States Code (U.S.C.). On the same date, FinCEN also published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to propose the imposition of a special measure authorized by the U.S.C. against FBME. FinCEN is issuing this final rule imposing the fifth special measure against FBME.

This document withdraws FinCEN's August 24, 2004 proposed rule proposing imposition of the fifth special measure against PJSC Trustbank, formerly known as Infobank (“Trustbank”), as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern, pursuant to the authority contained in the Bank Secrecy Act.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), after consulting with staff from various federal supervisory authorities, is proposing rules under the Bank Secrecy Act to clarify and strengthen customer due diligence requirements for: Banks; brokers or dealers in securities; mutual funds; and futures commission merchants and introducing brokers in commodities. The proposed rules would contain explicit customer due diligence requirements and would include a new regulatory requirement to identify beneficial owners of legal entity customers, subject to certain exemptions.

In a finding, notice of which is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register (“Notice of Finding”), the Director of FinCEN found that FBME Bank Ltd. (“FBME”), formerly known as Federal Bank of the Middle East, Ltd., is a financial institution operating outside of the United States that is of primary money laundering concern. FinCEN is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) to propose the imposition of a special measure against FBME.

FinCEN, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”), is issuing this Final Rule defining certain housing government sponsored enterprises as financial institutions for the purpose of requiring them to establish anti-money laundering programs and report suspicious activities pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act. The requirements to establish anti-money laundering programs and report suspicious activities are intended to help prevent fraud and other financial crimes.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System are issuing this Final Rule amending the regulatory definitions of “funds transfer” and “transmittal of funds” under the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”). We are amending the definitions to maintain their current scope in light of changes to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which will avoid certain currently covered transactions being excluded from BSA requirements.

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 Liberty Reserve S.A. (Liberty Reserve) is a financial institution operating outside of the United States that is of primary money laundering concern. FinCEN is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to propose the imposition of a special measure against Liberty Reserve.

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 (72 FR 12730, RIN 1506-AA83) imposing a special measure against 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, Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) are proposing amendments to the regulatory definitions of “funds transfer” and “transmittal of funds” under the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act. The proposed changes are intended to maintain the current scope of the definitions and are necessary in light of changes to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act that will result in certain currently covered transactions being excluded from Bank Secrecy Act requirements.

This document repeals FinCEN's final rule, “Imposition of Special Measures Against Myanmar Mayflower Bank and Asia Wealth Bank” of April 12, 2004, and withdraws the findings of Myanmar Mayflower Bank and Asia Wealth Bank as Financial Institutions of Primary Money Laundering Concern of November 25, 2003, issued pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 5318A of the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”).

FinCEN is amending the rules relating to the reporting of certain currency transactions consistent with a recent statutory amendment authorizing FinCEN to require clerks of court to file such reports with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Such information already is required to be reported by clerks of court pursuant to regulations issued by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), but FinCEN heretofore has been limited in its ability to access and share further that information because of minor differences between the relevant statutory authorities applicable to FinCEN and the IRS.