Anti-Money Laundering Roundup: FinCEN Releases Three Proposals
December 20, 2021
Over the past few weeks, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued three proposals addressing various aspects of anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. We covered the Beneficial Ownership NPRM and the Real Estate ANPR last week in more detail, but key information is summarized below.
Risk of Money Launder in U.S. Real Estate Markets ANPR (Released Dec. 6)
- At the core of the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) is whether FinCEN should extend AML and customer due diligence requirements to “non-financed” or all cash real estate transactions, including residential and commercial purchases.
- While many CREFC members already are subject to AML requirements, the ANPR’s definition of “non-financed” transactions could actually include some financed transactions.
- From the ANPR: ‘‘Non-financed purchase,’’ ‘‘non-financed transaction,’’ ‘‘all-cash purchase,’’ and ‘‘all-cash transaction’’ refer to any real estate purchase or transaction that is not financed via a loan, mortgage, or other similar instrument, issued by a bank or non-bank residential mortgage lender or originator, and that is made, at least in part, using currency or value that substitutes for currency (including convertible virtual currency (CVC)), or a cashier’s check, a certified check, a traveler’s check, a personal check, a business check, a money order in any form, or a funds transfer.
- Comments are due February 7, 2022.
Corporate Transparency Act: Streamlining Beneficial Ownership Due Diligence NPRM (Released Dec. 7)
- The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is one more step to implementing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which requires certain legal entities to disclosure and report their beneficial ownership to a FinCEN database.
- This is the first in a series of three rulemakings necessary to implement the CTA, which will also address how financial institutions can use the FinCEN database to satisfy their Customer Due Diligence requirements.
- Comments are due February 7, 2022.
Modernization of U.S. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Regulatory Regime RFI (
Released Dec. 14)
- The Request for Information (RFI) seeking comments on ways to streamline, modernize, and update the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime of the United States.
- The RFI is in response to the AML Act of 2020, which requires a formal review of existing AML regulations and a report to Congress.
- Comments are due February 14, 2022.
CREFC will continue to analyze the FinCEN proposals and engage with members on possible comments. Please contact Sairah Burki and David McCarthy with any questions on comments.