As the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network works to implement the Corporate Transparency Act—an ABA-advocated provision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020—Acting Director Him Das today told lawmakers it will publish a second notice of proposed rulemaking this year “that will propose regulations governing access to beneficial ownership information by law enforcement, national security agencies, financial institutions and others.” The NPRM will follow a previous proposal regarding the implementation of the beneficial ownership reporting requirements.
FinCEN also plans to issue a third proposal revising the customer due diligence regulation for financial institutions “no later than one year after the effective date of the final reporting rule,” as required by statute, Das said in written testimony submitted ahead of a House Financial Services Committee hearing. “The CTA directs that the revisions should bring the CDD regulation into conformance with the beneficial ownership rules under the CTA and reduce unnecessary or duplicative requirements, among other things,” he said. “We are considering all options as we develop the Access Rule NPRM, and look forward to receiving public comments on our proposal when it is issued.”
Das noted, however, that as FinCEN’s priorities have shifted—particularly in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions activity—“limited resources have presented significant challenges to meeting the implementation requirements of our expanded mandate under the AML Act, including the CTA’s beneficial ownership requirements. . . . . we are missing deadlines, and we will likely continue to do so.”
