On April 7, 2026, the FDIC, the OCC, and the NCUA jointly issued a proposed rule to amend the respective requirements for their supervised institutions to establish and maintain effective risk-based anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs designed to identify, assess, and mitigate risks of illicit finance. The amendments are intended to align each agency’s AML/CFT rules with changes concurrently proposed by FinCEN.
In 2020, Congress, through the AML Act, directed FinCEN and the Agencies to modernize and strengthen the AML/CFT regulatory framework to encourage more effective outcomes for financial institutions, regulators, law enforcement, and national security agencies. The Agencies are proposing to revise their respective regulations to reflect these broader revisions to the BSA, as well as to ensure consistency between FinCEN’s and the Agencies’ separately authorized compliance program requirements.
According to the Agencies’ press release, the proposed rule would, among other things:
Incorporate the AML Act provision that a bank’s AML/CFT program should be risk-based, including ensuring that banks direct more attention and resources toward higher-risk customers and activities, consistent with the risk profile of the institution, rather than toward lower-risk customers and activities;
Describe the requirements for a bank to establish an AML/CFT program; explicitly incorporate FinCEN’s existing customer due diligence requirement; and clarify that a bank’s designated AML/CFT officer must be located in the U.S. and accessible to regulators;
Require that once a bank has properly established its AML/CFT program, the institution maintains that program in all material respects. In addition, the proposed rule would clarify that only significant or systemic failures to implement a properly established program would warrant an “AML/CFT enforcement action” or a “significant AML/CFT supervisory action”;
Enhance FinCEN’s role in the Agencies’ supervision and enforcement process by establishing a new consultation framework for certain actions by the Agencies; and
Clarify that banks may share any information with FinCEN related to certain AML/CFT supervisory and enforcement actions.
Comments on the proposed rule are due 60 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register.
Read the Agencies’ joint press release here.
The proposed rule can be found here.