WASHINGTON—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is being urged by NAFCU to take action in a number of areas related to proposed rulemaking (ANPR) related to the implementation of the beneficial ownership information reporting provisions.
Those provisions are included in the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).
The AMLA – passed as part of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act – included the provision requiring corporations, limited liability companies, and similar entities to disclose their true beneficial ownership information to FinCEN in order to create a new nonpublic database.
According to FinCEN, the ANPR seeks public input on procedures and standards for reporting companies to submit information to FinCEN, as well as feedback on FinCEN's maintenance and disclosure of beneficial ownership information subject to appropriate protocols.
The Recommendations
In the letter, Kaley Schafer, NAFCU’s senior regulatory affairs counsel, called for the agency to specifically:
- Allow for a pre-authorization mechanism either from credit unions or from the agency
- Allow credit unions that obtain consent to receive updated beneficial ownership information provided by reporting companies
- Clarify examination and supervisory expectations for credit unions that rely on beneficial ownership information for customer due diligence compliance
NAFCU said it is supportive of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/AML reform efforts and believes the FinCEN database will have “the potential to allow for a meaningful reduction in compliance burdens.”