FinCEN publishes ANPRM on beneficial ownership database

On April 5, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). This ANPRM mostly seeks comments regarding how FinCEN can implement provisions of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which was passed on January 1, 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We’ve previously blogged on the contents of the NDAA (including the CTA), and NAFCU has published this chart of the NDAA’s provisions.

To recap: Congress passed the NDAA on January 1, 2021, overriding a presidential veto. The act includes several changes to BSA/AML laws, including the provisions of the CTA, which requires FinCEN to create a nationwide database for beneficial ownership information of corporations, LLCs, and “other similar entities”. Whereas credit unions and other financial institutions are currently required to obtain beneficial ownership information from those entities at account opening, the CTA would transfer that data-collection responsibility to FinCEN. While the CTA also instructs FinCEN to amend the beneficial ownership regulations that apply to financial institutions before January 1, 2022, the ANPRM states those changes will be made in a separate rulemaking which will also have its own notice and comment period. For now, the current Customer Due Diligence and beneficial ownership requirements remain in effect.

 

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