MIAMI—Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Director Andrea Gacki joined public and private sector financial industry leaders this week at the Financial and International Business Association’s (FIBA) annual anti-money laundering conference to discuss regulatory expectations and best practices to prevent financial crimes. Director Gacki participated in a fireside chat during which she highlighted several initiatives FinCEN has undertaken to enhance transparency in the U.S. financial system, including the launch of the beneficial ownership information registry where small businesses can report information about who owns or controls them. She also highlighted two proposed rulemakings that FinCEN has made public this year—involving reporting requirements for investment advisers and non-financed residential real estate purchases. These undertakings will help FinCEN and its law enforcement partners root out bad actors taking advantage of the U.S. financial system.
Similarly, Director Gacki discussed the critical support that financial institutions provide to law enforcement through suspicious activity reporting and information sharing through Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act. FinCEN strongly encourages all U.S. financial institutions to register for the 314(b) program and look for opportunities to form associations to engage in voluntary information sharing. FinCEN encourages U.S. financial institutions to continue to use, and potentially expand, their existing processes to collect and share information with foreign financial institutions in furtherance of investigations that involve cross-border activity.
FinCEN continues to enhance its public-private partnerships and has convened several recent information exchanges promoting collaborative efforts to combat illicit finance and help financial institutions identify cross-border illicit financial activity. Readouts from these events are available at FinCEN.gov.
###