29398 Federal Register / Vol
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29398 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 11, 2016 / Rules and Regulations DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY verification, (2) beneficial ownership identity documents. Financial identification and verification, (3) institutions are required to maintain Financial Crimes Enforcement Network understanding the nature and purpose records of the beneficial ownership of customer relationships to develop a information they obtain, and may rely 31 CFR Parts 1010, 1020, 1023, 1024, customer risk profile, and (4) ongoing on another financial institution for the and 1026 monitoring for reporting suspicious performance of these requirements, in RIN 1506–AB25 transactions and, on a risk-basis, each case to the same extent as under maintaining and updating customer their CIP rule. Customer Due Diligence Requirements information. The first is already an AML The terms used for the purposes of for Financial Institutions program requirement and the second this final rule, including account, will be required by this final rule. The beneficial ownership, legal entity AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement third and fourth elements are already customer, excluded legal entities, new Network (FinCEN), Treasury. implicitly required for covered financial account, and covered financial ACTION: Final rules. institutions to comply with their institution, are set forth in the final rule. suspicious activity reporting Financial institutions should use SUMMARY: FinCEN is issuing final rules requirements. The AML program rules beneficial ownership information as under the Bank Secrecy Act to clarify for all covered financial institutions are they use other information they gather and strengthen customer due diligence being amended by the final rule in order regarding customers (e.g., through requirements for: Banks; brokers or to include the third and fourth elements compliance with CIP requirements), dealers in securities; mutual funds; and as explicit requirements. including for compliance with the futures commission merchants and FinCEN has the legal authority for this Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) introducing brokers in commodities. action in the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), regulations, and the currency The rules contain explicit customer due which authorizes FinCEN to impose transaction reporting (CTR) aggregation diligence requirements and include a AML program requirements on all requirements. new requirement to identify and verify financial institutions 1 and to require the identity of beneficial owners of legal 2. Anti-Money Laundering Program financial institutions to maintain Rule Amendments entity customers, subject to certain procedures to ensure compliance with The AML program requirement for exclusions and exemptions. the BSA and its implementing each category of covered financial DATES: The final rules are effective July regulations or to guard against money institutions is being amended to 11, 2016. laundering.2 Applicability Date: Covered financial explicitly include risk-based procedures institutions must comply with these B. Summary of the Major Provisions of for conducting ongoing customer due rules by May 11, 2018. the Rulemaking diligence, to include understanding the nature and purpose of customer FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 1. Beneficial Ownership relationships for the purpose of FinCEN Resource Center at 1–800–767– Beginning on the Applicability Date, 2825. Email inquiries can be sent to frc@ developing a customer risk profile. covered financial institutions 3 must A customer risk profile refers to the fincen.gov. identify and verify the identity of the information gathered about a customer SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: beneficial owners of all legal entity at account opening used to develop a I. Executive Summary customers (other than those that are baseline against which customer activity excluded) at the time a new account is is assessed for suspicious activity A. Purpose of This Regulatory Action opened (other than accounts that are reporting. This may include self-evident Covered financial institutions are not exempted). The financial institution information such as the type of presently required to know the identity may comply either by obtaining the customer or type of account, service, or of the individuals who own or control required information on a standard product. The profile may, but need not, their legal entity customers (also known certification form (Certification Form include a system of risk ratings or as beneficial owners). This enables (Appendix A)) or by any other means categories of customers. criminals, kleptocrats, and others that comply with the substantive In addition, customer due diligence looking to hide ill-gotten proceeds to requirements of this obligation. The also includes conducting ongoing access the financial system financial institution may rely on the monitoring to identify and report anonymously. The beneficial ownership beneficial ownership information suspicious transactions and, on a risk requirement will address this weakness supplied by the customer, provided that basis, to maintain and update customer and provide information that will assist it has no knowledge of facts that would information. For these purposes, law enforcement in financial reasonably call into question the customer information shall include investigations, help prevent evasion of reliability of the information. The information regarding the beneficial targeted financial sanctions, improve identification and verification owners of legal entity customers (as the ability of financial institutions to procedures for beneficial owners are defined in § 1010.230). The first clause assess risk, facilitate tax compliance, very similar to those for individual of paragraph (ii) sets forth the and advance U.S. compliance with customers under a financial institution’s requirement that financial institutions international standards and customer identification program (CIP),4 conduct monitoring to identify and commitments. except that for beneficial owners, the report suspicious transactions. Because FinCEN believes that there are four institution may rely on copies of this includes transactions that are not of core elements of customer due diligence the sort the customer would be normally (CDD), and that they should be explicit 1 31 U.S.C. 5318(h)(2). expected to engage, the customer risk requirements in the anti-money 2 31 U.S.C. 5318(a)(2). profile information is used (among other laundering (AML) program for all 3 The term ‘‘covered financial institution’’ refers sources) to identify such transactions. to: (i) Banks; (ii) brokers or dealers in securities; (iii) covered financial institutions, in order mutual funds; and (iv) futures commission This information may be integrated into to ensure clarity and consistency across merchants and introducing brokers in commodities. the financial institution’s automated sectors: (1) Customer identification and 4 31 CFR 1020.220, 1023.220, 1024.220, 1026.220. monitoring system, and may be used VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:50 May 10, 2016 Jkt 238001 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4701 Sfmt 4700 E:\FR\FM\11MYR3.SGM 11MYR3 mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with RULES3 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 11, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 29399 after a potentially suspicious transaction rate) and $282 million (at a three B. The Importance of Customer Due has been identified, as one means of percent discount rate). Because the Diligence determining whether or not the benefits of the rule cannot be quantified, FinCEN, after consultation with the identified activity is suspicious. FinCEN has utilized a breakeven staffs of the Federal functional When a financial institution detects analysis to determine how large the regulators and the Department of information (including a change in final rule’s benefits would have to be in Justice, has determined that more beneficial ownership information) about order to justify its estimated costs. The explicit rules for covered financial the customer in the course of its normal RIA uses Treasury’s estimate of $300 institutions with respect to customer monitoring that is relevant to assessing billion in illicit proceeds generated due diligence (CDD) are necessary to or reevaluating the risk posed by the annually in the United States due to clarify and strengthen CDD within the customer, it must update the customer BSA regime, which in turn will enhance information, including beneficial financial crimes, to determine the financial transparency and help to ownership information. Such minimum level of effectiveness that the information could include, e.g., a final rule would need to achieve for the safeguard the financial system against significant and unexplained change in benefits to equal the costs. Based on this illicit use. Requiring financial the customer’s activity, such as analysis, using the upper bound of our institutions to perform effective CDD so executing cross-border wire transfers for cost assessment, FinCEN has concluded that they understand who their no apparent reason or a significant that the final rule would only have to customers are and what type of change in the volume of activity without reduce illicit activity by 0.6 percent to transactions they conduct is a critical explanation. It could also include yield a positive net benefit. The aspect of combating all forms of illicit information indicating a possible Treasury Department believes that the financial activity, from terrorist change in the customer’s beneficial final rule