All in BSA

CIP Requirements for Banks and Credit Unions

Adam Witmer
BSA

One of the most challenging parts of any financial institution’s Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) program is to have an effective Customer Identification Program (CIP) that forms a reasonable belief that the institution knows the true identity of the person they are opening account for.  Understanding CIP requirements is essential as an insufficient CIP program can lead to significant consequences such as regulator enforcement actions and civil money penalties (fines). This article discusses some of the general CIP requirements for Banks and Credit Unions.

Interagency Statement on Sharing of BSA/AML Resources Among Financial Insittutions

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, BSA, Compliance Management

On October 3, 2018, the main federal regulators, along with FinCEN, released a statement regarding instances in which banks and credit unions may decide to enter into collaborative arrangements to share resources to manage their Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) obligations more efficiently and effectively.  While this guidance may not be beneficial for a majority of financial institutions, this may be beneficial for very small institutions with a low-risk profile and less-complex structures, or those institutions who are owned by the same organization.

Agencies Grant CIP Exemption for Insurance premium Finance Loans

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

On September 28, 2018, FinCEN, the OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, and NCUA released joint guidance which grants financial institutions an exemption from CIP requirements for loans extended to customers to facilitate purchases of property and casualty insurance policies.  The justification for this exemption is based on the fact that these types of loans present a low risk of money laundering due to their very specific purpose. Those entities that extend loans to customers for such purposes should…

FinCEN Advisory on High-Risk Customers

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, BSA

On September 21, 2018, FinCEN released an advisory on the FATF-identified jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies.   This advisory, known as FIN-2018-A004, relays information to US financial institutions regarding countries the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has identified as having deficiencies.  FATF is an intergovernmental body comprised of…

NCUA Guidance Regarding CDD & UBO Compliance

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, BSA

In August of 2018, the NCUA issued a letter to Credit Union CEOs and Boards of Directors regarding examination guidance for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) customer due diligence(CDD) and ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) compliance.  The letter (18-CU-02) explained to credit unions that the NCUA has issued examination procedures to field staff regarding the new CDD and UBO rules that went into effect earlier in 2018. The Credit Union Letter included an attached supervisory letter that provides all federally insured credit unions with examination expectations for NCUA examiners regarding conducting reviews of a credit union’s compliance with the new rules.  

Compliance Considerations for CD Secured Loans

Adam Witmer
Compliance Management, BSA, Fair Lending, CRA, Regulation Z

Compliance requirements for CD secured loans are not typically a huge topic of discussion for compliance seminar speakers or article authors.  That said, one of our members suggested this topic (you know who you are!), and I think it is a great topic to write on from the perspective of CD secured loans, rather than just bringing up these loans when discussing applicable regulations (which is usually the way it happens). The truth is that most financial institutions (and regulators) just…

New SAR Form 2018

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

In January of 2018, FinCEN provided an announcement that a new version of the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) will be modified and available for use in June of 2018.  It is our understanding that, on Friday, July 28, 2018 FinCen finally released the new SAR Form (2018).

This revision marks the first update to the SAR form since releasing the electronic-only version (v1.1) of the form a few years back.  These SAR changes appear to be substantially similar to the 2017 revisions that were made to the Currency Transaction Report (CTR) as most changes are minor in nature and will not be substantial for most financial institutions.  That said, three of the five sections of the original version of the electronic SAR are reported o have been modified, though, again, most changes are not substantial to financial institutions - with the exception on SARs filed for a cyber-event.  

SAR Filing Deadlines

SAR Filing Deadlines

Adam Witmer
BSA

This Compliance Clip explains the SAR filing timeframes, which you would think would be easy. Unfortunately, like all good compliance topics, they are actually more confusing than you would think. Adam uses layman's terms to explain when the clock starts and how to calculate when a SAR filing is due.

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