Letter to FinCEN on Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements

Policy Division
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
P.O. Box 39
Vienna, VA 22183

Dear Sir or Madam:

The American Bankers Association appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on the Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements (ANPRM). The ANPRM is designed to collect feedback on the creation of the registry, which will be a database of information on the beneficial owners of certain legal entities, as mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA). The section of the NDAA that creates the beneficial ownership registry was initially introduced into Congress as the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). FinCEN seeks input on all aspects of the registry, including its creation and maintenance, the collection of information from reporting companies, and disclosure of the information to authorized parties, including financial institutions.

ABA has long supported efforts to modernize the current anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, and we encouraged Congress to enact legislation establishing the beneficial ownership registry. Throughout, ABA has sought to make the BSA regime more risk focused, effective, and efficient. This particular effort, focused on creating a database of beneficial ownership data, is designed to provide a resource for law enforcement, but we believe an equally important objective is to provide a mechanism for financial institutions to verify beneficial ownership information, which will alleviate some of the burdens associated with the 2016 Customer Due Diligence rule (CDD rule) as well as use the information for customer due diligence. Therefore, as FinCEN updates existing requirements for financial institutions, it will be critical to reduce any unnecessary or duplicative burdens to ensure the efficiency of the process, a step required by Congress in the legislation.

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