On March 17, 2022, FinCEN announced that it has assessed a $140 million civil money penalty against USAA Federal Savings Bank (USAA FSB) for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations. This is after FinCEN conducted a civil enforcement investigation and determined that grounds exist to impose a Civil Money Penalty against USAA FSB for violations of the BSA. According to the FinCEN’s press release, USAA FSB admitted that it willfully failed to implement and maintain an anti‑money laundering (AML) program that met the minimum requirements of the BSA from at least January 2016 through April 2021.

On March 10, 2022, 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.

In early February, 2022, the Federal Reserve released a Synthetic Identity Fraud Mitigation Toolkit which offers a wide variety of informative resources for financial institutions, consumers and businesses on fraud mitigation. The issuance of the fraud mitigation toolkit is the next step in the Federal Reserve’s years-long commitment and engagement with fraud experts to support the payments industry in its battle against fraud.

On 1/24/2022, the FinCEN issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes and solicits public comment on the establishment of a limited-duration pilot program for sharing suspicious activity reports (SARs), in accordance with Section 6212 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020. In the pilot program, a financial institution with a SAR reporting obligation would be permitted to share SARs and information related to SARs with foreign branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates for the purpose of combating illicit finance risks, provided FinCEN approves and approves the conditions.

On 12/20/21, FinCEN released a Financial Threat Analysis on wildlife trafficking threat patterns and trend information identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data filed between January 2018 and October 2021. The result of the analysis shows that wildlife trafficking-related SARs filed between January 2018 and October 2021 trended significantly up and SARs filed in 2021 are on track to meet or exceed the amount of SARs filed in 2020 based on current trends.

On 12/16/21, FinCEN and the OCC announced on separate issuances that they assessed a total of $8 million civil money penalty on CommunityBank of Texas, N.A. (CBOT) for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations. As a result of its own investigation, the OCC assessed a civil penalty of $1 million for related violations while FinCEN agreed with CBOT to a settlement of $7 million.

On 12/14/21, FinCEN issued a request for information (RFI) seeking comments on ways to streamline, modernize, and update the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime of the United States. The agency is particularly interested in ways to modernize risk-based AML/CFT regulations and guidance so that they can continue to protect U.S. national security in a cost-effective and efficient manner.