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NAFCU outlined the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) gathering public feedback on potential improvements to anti-money laundering (AML) programs in a new Regulatory Alert sent to members Thursday. Credit unions are encouraged to submit comments on the ANPR to NAFCU by Nov. 13; comments are due to FinCEN Nov. 16.

The ANPR was issued earlier this month along with a final rule to remove an AML program exemption for certain banks that lack a federal function regulator.

In the Regulatory Alert, NAFCU broke down what insights FinCEN are looking for through the ANPR, including whether:

• FinCEN should explicitly define a requirement for an “effective and reasonably designed” AML program in the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regulations; and
• FinCEN should amend AML regulations to establish an explicit requirement for a risk-assessment process that considers national AML priorities set by the agency's director every two years.

NAFCU also highlighted that FinCEN “does not anticipate any changes to the recordkeeping or reporting requirements in response to this ANPR.”

The association also outlined how this ANPR would impact credit unions, as credit unions currently conduct risk-assessments as part of BSA compliance.

“The ANPR would explicitly require a risk-assessment in the BSA regulations, however, FinCEN is also weighing whether the national AML priorities should be included,” wrote NAFCU in the Regulatory Alert. “The inclusion of these national AML priorities may impact the timeframe and burden in updating the risk-assessment.”

In addition, the Regulatory Alert includes several questions for credit unions to consider and important background information on the ANPR. Subscribe to receive NAFCU Regulatory Alerts.

FinCEN Deputy Directory Michael Mosier spoke at NAFCU's Virtual Congressional Caucus earlier this month to share updates on the agency's BSA enforcement efforts and COVID-19 fraud trends.

BSA/AML reform is one of NAFCU's advocacy priorities for 2020, and the association has urged Congress to enact BSA/AML legislation to reduce regulatory burdens, including those related to suspicious activity report (SAR) and currency transaction report (CTR) filings.

BSA/AML compliance is also one of the NCUA’s 2020 supervisory priorities; the agency last week issued an exemption for certain loans made by credit unions from customer identification program requirements.