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FinCEN Publishes Form for Electronic Reporting of Cash Payments
On September 19, FinCEN announced the availability of electronic reporting of cash payments. Under the Bank Secrecy Act any person engaged in a trade or business that, in the course of that trade or business, receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in two or more related transactions is required to report such transactions. FinCEN encourages covered persons to begin using the new electronic Form 8300 to report cash payments. FinCEN will continue to accept paper filings of Form 8300 for the near future, but eventually will require electronic filing of all reports.
FinCEN Plans Roundtable on Customer Due Diligence Proposal, Releases Materials from July Hearing
On September 17, FinCEN announced that it will host a roundtable discussion on its proposed customer due diligence requirements on September 28, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. The announcement identifies a series of “key issues” on which the roundtable discussion will focus, including (i) how institutions currently identify, collect, and verify beneficial ownership information, (ii) the costs associated with collecting and verifying such information, and (iii) how institutions currently conduct due diligence on trust accounts. Last week, FinCEN released a summary of a public hearing held in July on its customer due diligence proposal. The summary provides the final agenda for the hearing, a general summary of topics covered, and statements and other materials submitted for the record.
FinCEN Launches New Data Portal for Law Enforcement Authorities
On September 10, FinCEN announced that its new search application providing access to data collected and maintained by FinCEN is now available for use by authorized users from other state and federal law enforcement and regulatory authorities. FinCEN has completed a series of meetings with other law enforcement officials to introduce them to FinCEN Query, a tool that will allow those authorities to access and analyze eleven years of data collected by FinCEN through its enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act. The new tool replaces the existing database with updated technology to provide more complex search and analysis capabilities.
New FinCEN Director Announced
On August 20, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced that next month Jennifer Shasky Calvery will replace James Fries as the Director of FinCEN. Ms. Calvery joins FinCEN after a fifteen year career with the U.S. Department of Justice. Most recently she served as Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.
FinCEN Announces Public Hearing on Customer Due Diligence Proposal, Releases First Report on Real Estate Title and Escrow Industry SARs
On July 10, FinCEN announced the first in a series of public hearings to collect information related to its proposed rule on customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions. The public hearing, to be held July 31, 2012 at the Treasury Department, is designed to obtain input from the law enforcement and regulatory communities, as well as industry representatives.
On July 11, FinCEN released its first targeted study analyzing Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) involving the real estate and title escrow industry. As part of its efforts to better understand criminal risks impacting related those industries, FinCEN studied thousands of SARs involving title and escrow companies, often filed in connection with mortgage fraud. The FinCEN release notes that the agency does not currently require title and escrow companies themselves to file SARs, but many such companies have reported suspicious activities to FinCEN. The agency plans to use this and future studies to identify regulatory gaps and assess appropriate solutions to close those gaps and mitigate risk.
FinCEN Offers Guidance on Application of BSA Regulations to Daily Money Management Services and Prepaid Card Vendors
Recently, FinCEN released two Administrative Rulings, FIN-2012-R003 and FIN-2012-R004, that provide guidance on the application of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regulations to certain types of businesses. In the first ruling, FinCEN analyzed a prepaid access arrangement where a bank exercises primary control over the arrangement, while a bank vendor distributes and sells the prepaid access (via prepaid cards). FinCEN determined that the vendor would not be required to register as a prepaid access provider. Still, the vendor may be a seller of prepaid accesswho would be required to registerin certain listed circumstances. In the second ruling, FinCEN advised that companies that offer daily money management services may be subject to FinCENs regulations implementing the BSA. The company that requested the ruling facilitated the payment of monthly expenses for its customers and managed customers day-to-day finances. FinCEN concluded that the company was a money transmitter under FinCEN regulations because (i) the company disbursed company checks on its customers behalf, (ii) the company was not engaged in core debt management services, and (iii) the disbursements were not ancillary to some other good or service.
FinCEN Extends Proposed Customer Due Diligence Program Comment Period, Issues Electronic Filing Reminder
On May 4, FinCEN extended the comment period for its proposal to establish a customer due diligence regulation that would require covered financial institutions to institute defined programs to identify the real or beneficial owners of customer accounts. The proposed regulation is designed to enhance federal anti-money laundering and counterterrorism efforts. Interested parties will have an additional thirty days to comment from the time the extension is published in the Federal Register. On May 7, FinCEN reminded financial institutions subject to the Bank Secrecy Act that certain BSA-required filings must be filed electronically beginning July 1, 2012.
FinCEN Reports Increased Mortgage Fraud SARs
On April 23, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released an update on mortgage loan fraud suspicious activity reports (SARs) for 2011. The report indicates that mortgage fraud SARs increased 31 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, a spike that FinCEN states is directly attributable to mortgage repurchase demands and special filings generated by several institutions. Based on a sample analysis, FinCEN found that in 40 percent of cases resulting in a SAR, the institution turned down the subject’s loan application, short sale request, or debt elimination because of the suspected fraud, indicating improvement in mortgage lending due diligence. Among other things, the report highlights short sales, appraisals, and identity theft as new fraud patterns in 2011 SARs.
FinCEN Issues Guidance on New E-Filing System, Tax Refund Fraud
On March 29, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it is accepting the new Currency Transaction Report (CTR) and Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) into FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System. FinCEN issued guidance to assist institutions in filing the new reports and indicated that the new forms will replace the existing forms (legacy reports), but do not create any new obligations or otherwise change existing statutory and regulatory expectations for financial institutions. The new forms are now accepted for electronic filing and their use becomes mandatory on March 31, 2013. Until that date institutions may electronically file either the new reports or the legacy reports. In a separate action FinCEN had already mandated the electronic filing of most reports through the BSA E-Filing System beginning on July 1, 2012. FinCEN has recommended that institutions file electronically before that date, but until then they may continue to file via paper or by use of the legacy report form. The new CTR and SAR report forms may only be submitted electronically.
On March 30, FinCEN issued advisory FIN-2012-A005 to assist financial institutions with identifying tax refund fraud and filing SARs. The Advisory lists multiple “red flag” activities that could indicate tax refund fraud. When completing SARs on suspected tax refund fraud, financial institutions should use the term “tax refund fraud” in the narrative section of the SAR and provide a detailed description of the activity.