Updates to the examination manual for procedures related to enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) procedures were released Wednesday by the umbrella group for federal financial institution regulators.
According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), the updates address sections of the manual including:
- Due diligence programs for correspondent accounts for foreign financial institutions.
- Prohibition on correspondent accounts for foreign shell banks; Records concerning owners of foreign banks and agents for service of legal process.
- Reporting obligations on foreign bank relationships with Iranian-linked financial institutions.
- Summons or subpoena of foreign bank records; Termination of a correspondent relationship; Records concerning owners of foreign banks and agents for service of legal process.
- Due diligence programs for private banking accounts.
- Special information sharing procedures to deter money laundering and terrorist activity.
As they typically do with such updates, the federal banking agencies released comments about that updates that included that the exam manual does not establish requirements for financial institutions and that such requirements are found in the statutes and regulations, and; financial institutions should not interpret the updates as new instructions or an increased focus on certain areas; instead the updates are intended to offer further transparency into the examination process and support risk-focused examination work.
Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering: Updated Sections of the FFIEC BSA/AML Examination Manual