The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network expects to finalize a revised beneficial ownership reporting rule in the very near future, agency Director Andrea Gacki told House lawmakers today.
FinCEN last year issued an interim final rule removing the requirement for U.S. companies and persons to report beneficial ownership information to the agency under the Corporate Transparency Act. Appearing before a House Financial Services subcommittee for an agency oversight hearing, Gacki didn’t provide a date for when the rule would be finalized, but said it was coming “very soon.”
“We are very close to the finish line,” she said.
ABA seeks further reforms
In a statement submitted ahead of the hearing, the American Bankers Association said that while it applauded recent steps taken by the Treasury Department and FinCEN to modernize the U.S. illicit finance regime, more work is needed.
“Modernizing and revising these Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) rules is an essential step to protect the U.S. financial system, our communities, and the banks that serve them from illicit finance risk and the bad actors who misuse the U.S. financial system,” ABA said.
ABA recommended the following policy actions:
- Finalize a revised AML/CFT program rule supporting a true risk-based approach to protecting the U.S. financial system against illicit finance risk and bad actors;
- Revise the customer due diligence rule and complete beneficial ownership relief;
- Reform BSA reporting rules, including currency transaction reports (CTRs) and suspicious activity reports (SARs);
- Improve feedback provided to banks.
