White House Grants Approval to FinCEN’s National Priorities Rules

White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has improved the draft regulation suggested by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to safeguard U.S. financial institutions from illicit financial activities

A total of eight national objectives against money laundering have been recommended to include in their compliance regime.

Key Points: 

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) – part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has reviewed the proposed notice of rulemaking  to make sure the new regulations don’t clash with existing AML regulations.. OIRA has reviewed the latest anti-money laundering rules under the 2021 Money Laundering Act as of  June 27, 2024.

The proposed rules now mandate that financial institutions identify and assess their vulnerability to eight risks and update their AML compliance program to combat illicit financial activities.

What are those 8  Key Threats to Financial Institutions?

FinCEN announced eight key threats to U.S. financial institutions which are mentioned below:

• Corruption
• Drug-related offenses
• Smuggling of humans
• Fraud
• Cybercrime
• Foreign and domestic terrorist financing
• Proliferation financing
• Transnational organized crime

What changes can financial institutions expect from the proposed rule?

The main goal of the proposed rule is to strengthen the anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) strategies of financial organizations by keeping them up to date.

The rule proposed regulatory amendments to bring uniformity and clarity among various financial organizations across the globe.

It highlights the significance of risk assessment procedures by targeting resources in higher-risk regions.

Requirements from Financial organizations

Financial organizations must create, conduct, and maintain efficient risk-based AML/CFT methods in accordance with the rule’s purpose.

Authorities must maintain AML programs with certain elements such as internal policies, a compliance officer, staff training, independent audits, and procedures.

Read Also 

• FinCEN And SEC Mandate Customer ID Program For Investment Advisers

• Supplemental Advisory On The Procurement Of Illicit Fentanyl And Other Synthetic Opioids

Legal Deadline Set by Officials

Federal law-making authorities have given FinCEN a deadline of six months to provide details of regulations after receiving a reported list of eight key threats.

Thereby,  banks and other financial institutions can change their AML programs to detect and prevent these specific threats to strengthen their AML compliance program.

What will be next?

Soon, banks and financial institutions will need to adjust their AML compliance programs to address eight key concerns and align their AML strategies with the proposed lists.

Financial organizations can efficiently manage these new rules by incorporating AML screening software into their AML compliance regime.

AML Watcher offers custom risk assessment to help with eight key threats and informed decision making.

The updated global watchlist, and adverse media list allow you to search millions of records in seconds with zero false positive rates and with 50 % less compliance cost.