ABA on October 30 filed comments to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on its proposed rule to define investment advisers as financial institutions subject to the Bank Secrecy Act. The proposal would apply to investment advisers who must register with, and are supervised by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proposal would address a gap in regulatory coverage that FinCEN attempted to address more than ten years ago and would apply the same general requirements to all investment advisers.
ABA agrees with FinCEN that investment advisers should be defined as financial institutions and believes that this will help eliminate confusion by applying the same anti-money laundering requirements to all investment advisers, regardless of their employer. The proposal will also facilitate information sharing between investment advisers affiliated with financial institutions and other investment advisers. ABA encourages FinCEN to emphasize that the AML programs advisers are expected to adopt commensurate with their size, customer base and business operations, in keeping with the expectations of the risk-based approach. For questions, contact ABA’s Rob Rowe.