CTA enforcement halted in US, FinCEN issues romance scam warning, AUSTRAC cracks down on crypto
ComplyAdvantage
The leader in AI-driven fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) risk detection
The US Treasury has said it will not enforce penalties issued under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) for US citizens and domestic businesses. FinCEN had previously announced that the CTA’s beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements were back in effect after a legal battle, with a new deadline of March 21 and a commitment from the regulator to revise its reporting procedures to reduce the burden on lower-risk businesses. However, the Treasury has since announced it will issue a proposed rule limiting BOI reporting to non-US companies, in a move designed to lower firms' overall regulatory workload.?
FinCEN has also reminded financial institutions to stay alert to the signs of relationship investment scams as part of a multi-agency public awareness campaign. The reminder directs firms to previous alerts on scam typologies, including romance scams (or "pig butchering"), elder financial exploitation, and mail theft-related check fraud. Key red flags relating to these are:?
When filing SARs, firms should reference FinCEN’s key terms, such as? FIN-2023-PIGBUTCHERING, EFE FIN-2022-A0002, and FIN-2023-MAILTHEFT.?
AUSTRAC has taken action against 13 remittance and digital currency exchange providers after a year-long campaign targeting non-compliant operators in the industry. Most of these enforcement actions involve canceling or suspending firms’ registrations, although a further 50 firms are still under investigation after analysis by the regulator indicated systemic non-reporting of suspicious activity in the crypto sector. Australian crypto firms should consult AUSTRAC’s industry guidance to ensure they remain AML/CFT compliant.?
Until next week,
Andrew Davies, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs.
More resources?