We blogged last year about the Final Rule issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) extending Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)...more
7/25/2025
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
U.S. Treasury
On March 13, 2025, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which aims to establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, passed the United States Committee on Banking,...more
The new administration has signaled that the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) will significantly shift its approach to criminal corporate enforcement. Specifically, on February 5, 2025, newly-confirmed United States Attorney...more
2/14/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
Following up on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPR”), which we discussed back in March, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released on August 28th a final rule extending Anti-Money Laundering/Countering...more
9/13/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
FinCEN’s recent preliminary rulemaking aims to enhance and modernize regulations with requirements and priorities that affect a broad range of “financial institutions” across industries—but lacks concrete guidance on...more
7/26/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
On May 13th, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would require SEC-registered investment advisers (RIAs) and...more
5/29/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Exempt Reporting Advisers (ERAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NPRM ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
After reviewing how the AMLA expands the BSA’s goals, we look at which AMLA provisions have the most impact on BSA compliance, including the AMLA’s emphasis on information sharing, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s...more
Second Post in a Two-Post Series on the CTA Implementing Regulations -
As we just blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) regarding the beneficial ownership...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently complied with two important deadlines under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (“AML Act”) — issuing national priorities for AML and countering the financing of...more
First Blog Post in an Extended Series on Legislative Changes to BSA/AML Regulatory Regime -
Change is upon us. The U.S. House and Senate have passed – over a Presidential veto – the National Defense Authorization Act...more
On December 10, 2020, Kenneth Blanco, Director of FinCEN, issued public comments at the American Bankers Association/American Bar Association Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference announcing new FinCEN guidance for covered...more
Second Post in a Three-Post Series Regarding Recent Regulatory Action by FinCEN -
On September 16, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPRM”)...more
Can BSA/AML Requirements Lead to Deemed Knowledge of Borrower Fraud?
The first two weeks of August brought a milestone of sorts in the ongoing recovery from the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The...more
9/3/2020
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Borrowers ,
BSA/AML ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
FinCEN ,
Fraud ,
Government Investigations ,
HUD ,
Lenders ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
SBA ,
U.S. Treasury
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) just issued another Advisory pertaining to two consumer fraud schemes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...more
Internal Investigation Report Stresses Lack of Intentional Misconduct – But the Investigation May Broaden -
Westpac Banking Corporation (“Westpac”), Australia’s second largest retail bank, has been besieged by serious...more
6/15/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Australia ,
Banks ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Correspondent Banking ,
Internal Investigations ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Transfer ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
On May 18, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an Advisory “to alert financial institutions to rising medical scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This [A]dvisory contains red flags, descriptions of...more
On May 4, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) issued a paper entitled “Covid-19-Related Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing – Risk and Policy Responses (“Paper”). ...more
5/11/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
Second Post in a Two-Post Series on Recent FATF Activity -
As we just blogged, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) issued a statement from its President on COVID-19 and measures to combat illicit financing during the...more
4/13/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Money Laundering ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
First Post in a Two-Post Series on Recent FATF Activity -
Members presumably working from home, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) was active last week, first issuing its 3rd Enhanced Follow-up Report & Technical...more
4/13/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Know Your Customers ,
Money Laundering ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) just issued a release, entitled “The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Encourages Financial Institutions to Communicate Concerns Related to the Coronavirus...more
3/17/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Insider Trading ,
Money Laundering ,
Public Health ,
Scams
On August 21, 2019, FinCEN issued an advisory (the “Advisory”) alerting financial institutions to various financial schemes and mechanisms employed by fentanyl and synthetic opioid traffickers to facilitate the illegal...more
8/30/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Convertible Virtual Currencies (CVCs) ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Depository Institutions ,
Digital Wallets ,
Drug & Alcohol Abuse ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
Opioid ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Risk Management ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
In September, the Danish law firm Bruun & Hjejle’s report (“B&H Report”) released its internal investigation report into alleged money laundering conducted through the Estonian branch of Danske Bank (“Danske”)....more
11/30/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Corruption ,
Danske Bank ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Internal Controls ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Russia ,
Vladimir Putin ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
As we just blogged, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) Director Kenneth Blanco recently touted the value of Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”) in the context of discussing anti-money laundering (“AML”)...more
FinCEN announced on May 3, 2018 that Artichoke Joe’s, a card club and casino located in San Bruno, California and founded in 1916, has entered into a revised civil money penalty assessment regarding alleged deficiencies under...more
The Tale of an AML BSA Exam Gone Wrong -
As we have blogged, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the decision of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) to issue a cease...more
3/21/2018
/ Appeals ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Cease and Desist ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
FDIC ,
FFIEC ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Internal Controls ,
Money Laundering ,
Risk Management ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)