On September 28, 2018, the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (Federal Banking Agencies or FBAs), in conjunction with FinCEN, announced an order exempting premium finance loans, made by banks to commercial customers, from the Customer Identification Program (CIP) requirements implementing section 326 of the USA Patriot Act (31 U.S.C. § 5318(l)). This is in line with FinCEN’s earlier exemption of these […]
Category: BSA
TEN NEW AREAS IDENTIFIED AS HIGH INTENSITY DRUG TRAFFICKING AREAS
On September 24, 2018, the Office of National Drug Control Policy designated ten new areas across Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and West Virginia as High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs). The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs) program, which was established with the enactment of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, provides assistance to Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking […]
NEW CUSTOMER DUE DILIGENCE AND BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP EXAMINATION PROCEDURES
On May 11, 2018, the effective date of the Beneficial Ownership requirements, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued new examination procedures on the final rule, “Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions,” issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on May 11, 2016. The examination procedures apply to banks, savings and loan associations, savings associations, credit unions, and branches, agencies, and representative offices of foreign banks. The new examination procedures replace those […]
BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP SURVEY RESULTS
On May 5, 2016 FinCEN issued its final rule on beneficial ownership and customer due diligence. This rule was issued to strengthen customer due diligence requirements for covered institutions. The rule included a new requirement to identify and verify the identities of beneficial owners of legal entity customers (LEC). A beneficial owner was deemed as any individual who owns 25 percent or more of the equity interests of a LEC and a single individual with […]
FINCEN PLANS TO TWEAK THE SAR FORM
On February 15, 2017, FinCEN publishes a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on a proposed update and revision to the collection of information filed by banks in a SAR. Most of these changes would be in Part II (Suspicious Activity Information). The good news is the proposal states there are no new regulatory requirements or triggering requirements related to SARs. However, because new data fields will be added to the SAR form this likely will […]