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About the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
T
he Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, is America's financial intelligence unit. Financial intelligence units are national centers set up to collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry, to analyze that data, and to make the data available to appropriate authorities for use in combating financial crime.
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Our mission is to safeguard the
financial system from the abuses of
terrorist financing, money laundering
and other financial crime. We fulfill
this mission through our role as
administrator of the Bank Secrecy
Act, as amended. Among a broad
range of interrelated activities, we:•
Issue, interpret, and enforce
compliance with regulations
implementing the Bank Secrecy Act,
which includes key provisions of
Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act;•
Support and oversee compliance
examination functions delegated to
other federal regulators;•
Manage the collection, processing,
storage, and dissemination of Bank
Secrecy Act data;•
Maintain a government-wide
access service to the Bank Secrecy
Act data, and network users with
overlapping interests; and•
Conduct analysis in support of
policy makers; law enforcement,
regulatory, and intelligence agencies;
and the financial industry.History
The Department of the Treasury established
the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
in 1990. Our initial charge was to establish
a government-wide multi-source financial
intelligence and analysis network. Our
operations were expanded in 1994 to
include regulatory responsibilities for
administering the Bank Secrecy Act, one
of the nation's most potent weapons for
preventing abuse of the U.S. financial
system by financial criminals and terrorist
financiers.
The Bank Secrecy Act, enacted in 1970,
authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury
to issue regulations requiring that financial
institutions keep records and file reports on
certain financial transactions determined
to have a high degree of usefulness in
criminal, tax, regulatory investigations and
proceedings, and certain intelligence and
counter-terrorism matters. The authority
of the Secretary to administer Title II of the
Bank Secrecy Act (codified at 31 U.S.C.
5311-5330 with implementing regulations
at 31 C.F.R. Part 103) has been delegated
to the Director of the Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network.
Hundreds of thousands of financial
institutions are subject to Bank Secrecy Act
anti-money laundering program, record
keeping and reporting requirements. These
include, but are not limited to: depository
institutions (e.g., banks, credit unions, and
thrifts); brokers or dealers in securities;
money services businesses (e.g., money
transmitters; issuers, redeemers, and
sellers of money orders, travelers’ checks,
and stored value; currency dealers and
exchangers; and check cashers); and
casinos and card clubs. In Fiscal Year 2005,
dealers in precious metals, stones, or jewels
also became subject to Bank Secrecy Act
requirements.
The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 broadened
the scope of the Bank Secrecy Act to
focus on terrorist financing as well as
money laundering. The Act also gave the
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
additional responsibilities and authorities
in both important areas, and established
the organization as a bureau within the
Department of the Treasury.
In 2004, the Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network became part of the Treasury
Department's new Office of Terrorism and
Financial Intelligence. This is the lead office
within the Department for fighting the
financial war on terror, combating financial
crime, and enforcing economic sanctions
against rogue nations.