If a bank aggregates transactions for businesses with common ownership due to the businesses not being operated independent of each other or their common owner, is Phase II exemption possible for one account of one of the related entities?

Example: John Smith owns four retail businesses, all within the same industry (none are on the list of prohibited businesses, three of which the Bank aggregates currency transactions for CTR purposes. The Bank is seeking to file a Phase II DOEP for only one of the retail businesses, as the bulk of reportable activity for the aggregated CTRs are for transactions stemming from the main operating account of this particular business.

In looking at my own question, I am thinking I would have to exempt all or none of the related businesses. Am I correct?

I could be wrong but I believe that each business entity must be looked at independently to ensure that each is eligible for exemption (account opened for at least 2 months with at least 5 reportable transactions). The fact that you always aggregate would not be a factor.

I agree that each business entity would have to independently qualify for exemption. Let's say that only one or two qualify for exemption. Can they be exempted without the third if we have already concluded that they do not act independently from each other and are already aggregating their transactions?

The DOEP only allows you to list one customer...

As your CTR filing acknowledges that these entities are not divisible from one another, I do not know how you would defend the logic of selecting just one of them for exemption.

That was exactly my thought. In May, we determined that these businesses do not operate independently and began aggregating their transactions based upon identifying that money was being moved between the accounts via in-person transfers at the branch, check, and/or online transfers.

When I called and left a message for FinCEN, they left me a message (the one minute I left my desk) stating that I could exempt one of the related entities. I will be calling again to confirm by speaking to a live person (I will stay at my desk until they call this time!).