USA PATRIOT Act Section 314(a) FinCEN Compliance

On September 26, 2002, a final regulation implementing section 314(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act became effective. Financial institutions must comply with this section because it has been incorporated into the Bank Secrecy Act.

Any federal law enforcement agency investigating terrorist activity or money laundering may request the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)* to act on its behalf and solicit information from financial institutions. The request for information must relate to suspected terrorist or money laundering activity. This is a highly confidential process and is meant to facilitate information sharing regarding these illegal activities with the federal government.

If you receive a request for information, you must conduct a one-time search of your records to identify any matches. Your search should cover all current accounts and those maintained for the named suspect in the previous 12 months. In addition, you must search any transactions conducted outside of the account (funds transfers) during the preceding 6 months. These information requests are mandatory and only give you a few days to respond. 

ATTUS Technologies' WatchDOG Pro and WinPro software can simplify the process of fulfilling FinCEN requests quickly, easily and confidentially.

* FinCEN’s Office of Enforcement evaluates enforcement matters that may result in a variety of remedies, including the assessment of civil money penalties. Information regarding FinCEN’s recent enforcement actions can be found here http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/ea/.