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Following the interagency statement released last week by federal banking agencies, including the NCUA and Federal Reserve, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued its statement outlining its approach to enforcing the Bank Secrecy Act.

FinCEN noted that statement "aims to provide clarity and transparency to its approach when contemplating compliance or enforcement actions against covered financial institutions that violate the BSA." It further:

• outlines the administrative actions available to FinCEN; and
• provides an overview of the information FinCEN analyzes in order to determine the appropriate outcome to BSA violations.

The agency encouraged financial institutions to voluntarily and promptly report violations.

Access the statement here.

The interagency statement from the federal banking regulators 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.

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.