Are we required to get CIP information and check OFAC for non-customers who obtain cash using a cash advance Visa/Mastercard at one of our branches?

You don't have to obtain CIP information because they don't meet the definition of customer. There is no requirement to check OFAC. Whether or not you do it would be based on your Risk Assessment.

We also sell money orders to non-customers. We are required to obtain CIP info and check OFAC on them, so I'm not sure I follow your logic. Why would we be required to get CIP information and check OFAC for money orders but not for cash advances?

Since you sell money orders to non-customers, I would assume they use cash to purchase them. In that case, you are required to gather data for the sale of monetary instruments in excess of $3,000. While the data is basically the same thing you'd gather for CIP, you aren't doing it to meet the CIP requirement. You're doing it to meet the record keeping requirement for MIs.

So, Diva, let me play devil's advocate here for a minute...On the OFAC issue.....while the person in front of me at the teller window is not my customer, I don't need to CIP him, but I am still subject to OFAC. What if Osama came to the window and wanted a cash advance? This is still a prohibited transaction and should not be processed. This, along with screening check payees, is probably a low risk area and should be figured into your OFAC risk assessment. This is one of those things that has minimal risk but if you blow it just once...the consequence is substantial. i just don't think the justification of "he's not my customer" will fly with OFAC.

I never said you don't check OFAC on the person in front of you or that the justification would be that "he's not my customer". I said there is no "requirement" to check it. The requirement is not to do business with anyone on the list. As I said before, whether or not you do an OFAC check in any given situation would be based on your bank's risk assessment. Basically, it's up to each institution to decide for themselves where they feel their risk lies and deploy their resources accordingly.

rusure,

The specific question was whether the OFAC search was "required." The correct answer was given.

The reference to "customer" was very clearly in response to a different question. Neither the person submitting the card for a cash advance or purchasing an official check is a "person opening an account" and is therefore not a "customer." CIP does not apply in either situation. That answer was also correct.

Not even the most hurried reading of both responses yields a suggestion that an OFAC search is unnecessary just because the person is not a customer.

Which is exactly why we have chosen not to do transactions for non-customers. We only do cash advances or sell monetary instruments if you have an account.

Problem solved.

You could have another problem if MasterCard or Visa decides it wants to enforce its contract with you. Those rules typically require that you provide cash advances to cardholders with acceptable ID.