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Federal banking agencies, including the NCUA and Federal Reserve, issued an interagency statement to update their existing guidance on enforcement of required Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/anti-money laundering (AML) obligations. The statement does not create new expectations or standards; however, it clarifies that isolated or technical violations generally do not result in an enforcement action and addresses how the agencies evaluate violations of individual components (pillars) of the BSA/AML compliance program.

In the statement, the agencies – which also includes the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) – described how they will incorporate the customer due diligence regulations and recordkeeping requirements issued by the Treasury Department as part of the internal controls pillar of the financial institution’s BSA/AML compliance program when evaluating.

Read the full statement.

BSA/AML compliance is one of the NCUA’s 2020 supervisory priorities; the agency recently revised its supervisory priorities in light of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, BSA/AML reform is one of NAFCU's advocacy priorities for 2020, and the association previously urged the Senate to advance BSA/AML legislation as the House last year passed NAFCU-supported legislation to reduce the burden of suspicious activity report (SAR) and currency transaction report (CTR) filings.

View NAFCU's resources on BSA/AML, including a webinar and previous blog posts (here and here), to help credit unions comply with the customer due diligence rule.