On 10/26/21, FinCEN issued a press release to inform U.S. financial institutions that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that establishes international standards to combat money laundering, counter the financing of terrorism, and combat weapons of mass destruction proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF), has issued public statements updating its lists of jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies following its plenary meeting this month. U.S. financial institutions should consider the FATF’s stance toward these jurisdictions when reviewing their obligations and risk-based policies, procedures, and practices.

On 10/19/21, FinCEN announced that it had granted limited exceptive relief (FIN-2021-R001) to casinos from certain customer identity verification requirements in the context of online gaming. Specifically, the relief allows a casino to utilize suitable non-documentary methods to verify the identity of online customers, though the suitability or non-suitability of any particular method must be evaluated based on risk.

On 10/15/21, FinCEN issued a financial trend analysis on ransomware trends in Bank Secrecy Act reporting filed between January 2021 and June 2021. This report, which was required by the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, focuses on pattern and trend information pertaining to ransomware, in line with FinCEN’s issuance of government-wide priorities for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policy.

On 10/15/2021, the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a new industry-specific brochure, “Sanctions Compliance Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry.” In their release, the Treasury explained that this new resource is designed to help members of the virtual currency industry navigate and comply with OFAC sanctions.

On 9/23/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit public comment on a range of questions related to the implementation of amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding the trade in antiquities. This ANPRM is the first in a series of regulatory actions that FinCEN will undertake to implement Section 6110 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AML Act), which became law on January 1, 2021.

On 9/16/21, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a notice (FIN-2021-NTC3) to call attention to an increase in online child sexual exploitation (OCSE). The Notice provides financial institutions with specific suspicious activity report (SAR) filing instructions, and highlights some financial trends related to OCSE.

FinCEN has updated its “SAR Filings by Industry” webpage to include data from 2020. In addition to this webpage, FinCEN has an interactive map and and Interactive SAR Stats which allow BSA professionals to analyze what types of suspicious activity are being reported in their areas. As this data allows specific sorting of the data, BSA professionals are able to sort by many different fields including primary regulator, county,

On 8/3/2021, FinCEN announced that Acting Director Michael Mosier will depart FinCEN at the end of the week for a new opportunity, after serving as the organization’s acting director. Himamauli "Him" Das, a national security expert with experience at the White House, National Security Council, National Economic Council, and Departments of State and the Treasury, will assume the role of acting director of FinCEN. FinCEN also announced that the Treasury launched a public search for a permanent FinCEN director.

On 7/15/2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced it will hold an event in August 2021 with representatives from financial institutions, other key industry stakeholders, and federal government agencies to discuss ongoing concerns regarding ransomware, as well as efforts by the public and private sectors. In their release, FinCEN explained that this event will build upon their November 2020 event on ransomware. FinCEN anticipates that this event, being referenced as a “FinCEN Exchange”, will assist its government and private sector partners to inform next steps to address ransomware and focus resources to mitigate the threat. This announcement is part of a whole-of-government effort to combat ransomware.

On July 1, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a news release to announce updates to the FATF list of jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and counter-proliferation financing deficiencies. As updates to the FATF list were previously issued as advisories, FinCEN explained that this news release should be treated the same way as prior advisories - implying that future updates to the FATF list will continue to come as news releases rather than advisories.