The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network today proposed requiring non-federally insured credit unions to comply with the same anti-money laundering rules as federally insured financial institutions.
Non-federally insured financial institutions, including credit unions, were exempt from the rules, according to an outline of the proposal published on the Federal Register website. FinCEN is proposing to remove that exemption—a plan that would affect about 265 credit unions, the network said.
While those institutions have not been required to have an anti-money laundering program, they have been subject to other provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act.
Recommended For You
"Banks without a Federal functional regulator may be as vulnerable to the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing as banks with one," FinCEN said, in explaining the justification for the rules. The plan would eliminate that gap in regulations, the network said.
"FinCEN expects uniform regulatory requirements for all banks to reduce the opportunity for criminals to seek out and exploit banks subject to less rigorous AML requirements," the network added.
The network would expect financial institutions to assess money laundering and terrorist financing risks they face, develop customer risk profiles, and designate a person or persons who is responsible for compliance, according to the proposal.
The proposed rules also would require non-federally insured credit unions to strengthen customer due diligence requirements and verify the identity of the beneficial owners of their legal entity customers.
Comments on the proposed rules are due on or before Oct. 24.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
