On June 15, 2022, FinCEN issued an advisory to alert financial institutions to the rising trend of elder financial exploitation (EFE). EFE involves the illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds, property, or assets, and is often perpetrated either through theft or scams. The advisory highlights new EFE typologies and red flags since FinCEN issued its first advisory on the issue in 2011.

On June 3, 2022, FinCEN issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to solicit public comment on questions relating to the implementation of a no-action letter process at FinCEN. A no-action letter is generally understood to be a form of enforcement discretion where an agency states by letter that it will not take an enforcement action against the submitting party for the specific conduct presented to the agency.

On May 20, 2022, the SEC announced charges against Wells Fargo Advisors for failing to file at least 34 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in a timely manner between April 2017 and October 2021. Wells Fargo Advisors, the St. Louis-based broker-dealer, has agreed to pay $7 million to settle the charges.

On May 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued its 2022 National Strategy for Combatting Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing, which identifies measures to increase transparency in the U.S. financial system and strengthen the AML/CFT framework. The 2022 Strategy addresses the key risks from the 2022 National Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing risk assessments and reflects the challenges posed by a world impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the increasing digitization of financial services, and increasing levels of corruption and fraud.

FinCEN has updated its “SAR Filings by Industry” webpage to include data from 2021. In addition to this webpage, FinCEN has an interactive map and and Interactive SAR Stats which allow BSA professionals to analyze what types of suspicious activity are being reported in their areas. As this data allows specific sorting of the data, BSA professionals are able to sort by many different fields including primary regulator, county, etc.

On March 17, 2022, FinCEN announced that it has assessed a $140 million civil money penalty against USAA Federal Savings Bank (USAA FSB) for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations. This is after FinCEN conducted a civil enforcement investigation and determined that grounds exist to impose a Civil Money Penalty against USAA FSB for violations of the BSA. According to the FinCEN’s press release, USAA FSB admitted that it willfully failed to implement and maintain an anti‑money laundering (AML) program that met the minimum requirements of the BSA from at least January 2016 through April 2021.

On March 10, 2022, FinCEN issued a press release to inform U.S. financial institutions that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that establishes international standards to combat money laundering, counter the financing of terrorism, and combat weapons of mass destruction proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF), has issued public statements updating its lists of jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies following its plenary meeting this month. U.S. financial institutions should consider the FATF’s stance toward these jurisdictions when reviewing their obligations and risk-based policies, procedures, and practices.