On September 26, 2024, FinCEN submitted a notice to the Federal Register withdrawing its finding that ABLV Bank, AS (ABLV) is a financial institution of primary money laundering concern. FinCEN also rescinded the related notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) seeking to impose special measure five pursuant to section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (section 311).

On September 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it is undertaking actions as part of a coordinated international effort to disrupt Russian cybercrime services. In line with this, FinCEN has issued an order that identifies PM2BTC as being of “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance.

On September 19, 2024, FinCEN issued another resource to familiarize small business owners with beneficial ownership reporting requirements. The toolkit includes general background on the reporting requirements, as well as templates for newsletters, websites, and emails; sample social media posts and images; and information on how to contact FinCEN.

On September 17, 2024, FinCEN issued a notice and request for comments on the proposed renewal, without change, of existing information collection requirements found in BSA regulations that require financial institutions to maintain records related to the issuance or sale of bank checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, and traveler's checks when the issuance or sale involves the use of currency in an amount between $3,000 and $10,000, inclusive.

On September 12, 2024, the OCC entered into a Formal Agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. The agreement requires the bank to take comprehensive corrective actions to enhance its Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering and U.S. sanctions compliance programs.

On September 10, 2024, FinCEN updated its Beneficial Ownership Information Frequently Asked Questions anew. The FAQs are issued in response to inquiries received relating to the BOI Reporting Rule and BOI Access and Safeguards Rule.

On September 9, 2024, FinCEN issued a Financial Trend Analysis (FTA) on mail theft-related check fraud incidents based on BSA data filed between February 27 and August 31, 2023. FinCEN received 15,417 BSA reports from 841 financial institutions on mail theft-related check fraud, amounting to more than $688 million in reported suspicious activity.

On August 28, 2024, FinCEN issued two rules to help safeguard the residential real estate and investment adviser sectors from illicit finance as part of its ongoing efforts to combat illicit finance and protect U.S. national security. One of the final rules will will apply anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements to certain investment advisers that are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as those that report to the SEC as exempt reporting advisers. 

On August 26, 2024, during Overdose Awareness Week, FinCEN reminded financial institutions to monitor for and report suspicious transactional activity related to the illicit fentanyl supply chain and the trafficking of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. According to FinCEN, its efforts to marshal resources and expertise to combat the trafficking of illicit fentanyl is in participation with the Department of the Treasury’s Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force.

On July 26, 2024, FinCEN issued a notice to customers of financial institutions about reporting beneficial ownership information (BOI). The Notice provides answers to key questions about reporting BOI to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act and providing BOI to financial institutions in connection with Federal customer due diligence requirements.