On 2/26/25, FinCEN issued an advisory to remind financial institutions to remain vigilant regarding suspicious activity that may be indicative of relationship investment scams. This alert was issued in support of the multiagency #DatingOrDefrauding Campaign launched by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to alert the public to relationship investment scams targeting Americans through wrong-numbered texts, dating apps, and social media. The advisory states that losses from romance and confidence scams reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation exceeded $650 million in 2023.

On February 26, 2025, FinCEN released an advisory on the FATF-identified jurisdictions with AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies. In this latest update, the FATF added Laos and Nepal to the list of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring and removed the Philippines. The list of High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action remains unchanged, with Iran, North Korea (DPRK), and Burma still subject to FATF’s highest level of scrutiny. Specifically, FATF continues to call for countermeasures against Iran and DPRK, while Burma remains subject to enhanced due diligence.

On 2/21/25, the US Department of Treasury reported that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concluded a plenary in Paris, where Treasury representatives participated in discussions on proliferation and terrorist financing risks, financial inclusion, and payment standards, leading to draft updates for public consultation. The Treasury also reported that FATF launched a public consultation on sanctions evasion schemes and endorsed changes to its recommendations to reinforce a risk-based approach to combating illicit finance, including ensuring preventive or mitigation measures are commensurate with the risks identified.

On 2/20/25, OFAC launched a new “File Finder” application for use on its website. The application is browser-based and allows “users to search through and efficiently navigate all of OFAC’s website content,” according to a release by OFAC. OFAC explains that the new application “searches all static content on OFAC's website (PDF documents, word documents, etc.) by document title, document type, and the contents of each document. Searchable content typically includes general licensees, federal register notices, executive orders (and other legal documents), press charts, advisories, specific guidance, as well as many other records.”

On February 19, 2025, FinCEN updated the Alert on its Beneficial Ownership Reporting page stating that beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) are once again back in effect as a result of the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Smith, et al. v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, et al. However, FinCEN is generally extending the deadline by 30 calendar days from February 19, 2025, for most companies considering that reporting companies may need additional time to comply with their BOI reporting obligations.

On February 7, 2025, FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill wrote to FinCEN Ddirecto Andrea Gacki expressing his support for updating the Customer Identification Program (CIP) requirements to better align with modern financial services practices. Hill thanked FinCEN and the Department of the Treasury for their collaborative efforts on the issue. 

On January 29, 2025, FinCEN rescinded two of its previous Alerts on Israeli Extremist violence in the West Bank. The Alerts. As a result, FinCEN will no longer request that financial institutions file suspicious activity reports with the key term “FIN-2024-WBEXTREMISM.”

On January 24, 2025, FinCEN updated its Alert published Beneficial Ownership Reporting webpage to inform that reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN despite the Supreme Court’s stay of the nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in Texas (Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. McHenry—formerly, Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland). 

On December 23, 2024, the OCC issued a cease-and-desist order against Bank of America, N.A. for deficiencies related to its Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions compliance programs. The order requires the bank to take comprehensive corrective actions to enhance its BSA/AML  and sanctions compliance programs.