On 12/06/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit public comment on a potential rule to address the vulnerability of the U.S. real estate market to money laundering and other illicit activity. According to the release, this ANPRM is important as the systemic money laundering vulnerabilities presented by the U.S. real estate sector threatens U.S. national security and the integrity of the U.S. financial system.

On 12/1/21, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released their fourth update of their BSA/AML Examination Manual. This release, which is the fourth update in the last two years, added one new section and updated three existing sections of the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Examination Manual.

On 11/18/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice to call attention to an upward trend in environmental crimes and associated illicit financial activity. In the Notice, FinCEN explained that it is highlighting this trend because of: (1) its strong association with corruption and transnational criminal organizations, (2) a need to enhance reporting and analysis of related illicit financial flows; and (3) environmental crimes’ contribution to the climate crisis, including threatening ecosystems, decreasing biodiversity, and increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. FinCEN’s Notice provides financial institutions with specific suspicious activity report (SAR) filing instructions and highlights the likelihood of illicit financial activity related to several types of environmental crimes.

In mid-November of 2021, the CFPB released a “data spotlight” on suspicious activity reports on elder financial exploitation. The publication highlights trends relating to SARs filed by financial institutions that relate to elder financial exploitation. In general, the analysis primarily relies on public data for EFE SARs filed between January 2014 and December 2020, available through SAR Stats .

On 11/16/21, FinCEN held a virtual FinCEN Exchange focused on identifying and combatting illicit financial flows associated with environmental crimes and related money laundering. Representatives from financial institutions, law enforcement, and Federal government agencies attended the session.

On 11/9/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that they convened a virtual FinCEN Exchange with members of the financial industry and law enforcement to discuss FinCEN’s analysis of suspicious activity reporting (SAR) with a transactional nexus to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Topics of discussion in the exchange included an analysis of certain Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) filing statistics for SARs and an analysis of SAR filings related to recent FinCEN advisories.

On 11/8/21, FinCEN released an update to its 2020 advisory on ransomware and the use of the financial system to facilitate ransom payments. This release was done in connection with a set of actions announced by the Department of the Treasury which focused on disrupting criminal ransomware actors.

On 10/29/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the renewal of its longstanding Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate. The purchase amount threshold remains $300,000 for each covered metropolitan area.

On 10/26/21, FinCEN issued a press release to inform U.S. financial institutions that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that establishes international standards to combat money laundering, counter the financing of terrorism, and combat weapons of mass destruction proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF), has issued public statements updating its lists of jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies following its plenary meeting this month. U.S. financial institutions should consider the FATF’s stance toward these jurisdictions when reviewing their obligations and risk-based policies, procedures, and practices.