Welcome to the Compliance Cohort. We are a group of compliance professionals working to make compliance easier. Our goal is to take complex compliance concepts and put them in simple terms that apply to the real world. We are glad you have found us and look forward to collaborating in the future.
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All in BSA
This Compliance Clip (video) explains when beneficial ownership information is needed for loan renewals. As Adam explains in this video, it is needed in some cases, but isn’t needed in other cases. Adam provides plenty of citations for views on this BSA topic.
On April 3, 2020 FinCEN updated its March 16, 2020 COVID-19 Notice. This update provides additional information to assist financial institutions in complying with their Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and announces a direct contact mechanism for urgent COVID-19-related issues. FinCEN recognizes financial institutions face challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, FinCEN is committed to promoting the success of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), including the need to facilitate expeditious disbursal of CARES Act funds.
On March 31, 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released a report regarding the measures taken by the United States to strengthen their money laundering framework. In their report, FATF found that the United States has been in an enhanced follow-up process following the adoption of its mutual evaluation in 2016, after the 2016 FATF evaluation. In line with the FATF Procedures for mutual evaluations, the country has reported back to the FATF on the actions it has taken since then.
In this Compliance Clip (free video), Adam explains the recent FinCEN guidance regarding COVID-19 and BSA/AML requirements. Specifically, there are four main parts to this guidance and Adam breaks each down in easy-to-understand language. Plus, your BSA Officer won’t want to miss the final part of the guidance which has a direct requirement for filing SARs relating to COVID-19.
On March 16, 2020, FinCEN issued a request that financial institutions affected by the COVID-19 pandemic contact FinCEN and their functional regulator as soon as practicable if a COVID-19-affected financial institution has concern about any potential delays in its ability to file required Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reports. FinCEN also states that institutions seeking to contact them should call FinCEN’s Regulatory Support Section (RSS).
On March 6, 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released guidance relating to digital ID systems. In their release, the FATF explains that an understanding of how digital ID systems work is essential to apply the risk-based approach recommended in this Guidance. Specifically, FATF said the following
On 3/6/2020, OFAC issued FAQ 828 as guidance relating to humanitarian assistance with regard to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Iran.
On March 4, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed a $450,000 civil money penalty against the former Chief Operational Risk Officer, Michael LaFontaine, at U.S. Bank for his failure to prevent BSA/AML violations during his time of employment. In their release, FinCEN explains that U.S. Bank used automated transaction monitoring software to spot potentially suspicious activity but improperly capped the number of alerts generated. In addition, FinCEN states that while under the former risk officer’s leadership, the bank failed to staff the BSA compliance function with enough people to review even the reduced number of alerts.
FinCEN explains that…
On February 10, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a ruling relating to filing Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) for sole proprietorships and legal entities operating under a “Doing Business As” (DBA) name. This short two-page ruling outlines how CTRs should be filed, starting on April 6, 2020 (and September 1, 2020 for batch filers). Unfortunately, this guidance is not clear and concise and actually seems to complicate things, so BSA Officers should take a close look at it. As you might expect, this topic will be included in our next Quarterly Compliance Update planned for April 2020.
In this Compliance Clip (video), Adam discusses some recent changes to CTR reporting. Specifically, FinCEN has updated its user guide in regards to reporting CTRs with multiple transactions. The guidance has flip-flopped a bit over the last few months, so you won’t want to miss this video.
