The American Bankers Association (“ABA”) recently submitted a response letter to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (“FinCEN”) request for public comment on the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA 2020”). As a reminder, one of the main provisions in AMLA 2020 is the requirement for companies to report information about their ownership to FinCEN, which it will maintain in a Beneficial Ownership Registry.
The ABA supports a Beneficial Ownership Registry, and also advocates using the registry as a source financial institutions can leverage when performing their own Customer Due Diligence and suggests that FinCEN ensures the mechanism and rules used to leverage the registry do not become over cumbersome or duplicative. The ABA also commented on the definitions of “substantial control” and what constitutes a reportable 25% ownership interest. The ABA’s comment letter provides a good overview of the many challenges facing FinCEN as it seeks to implement this rule. Given how significantly the outcome of this rulemaking process will impact the industry, we’ll be following this closely. To see the full ABA comment letter, click here.
