We have DOB examiners in house this week. Examining our list of exempt customers and comparing it to the list examiners have printed from FinCEN, it has been discovered that 2 customers that have been exempt for years are not showing up as exempt on FinCEN's records. Our records include all documentation from our original filing for exemption as well as the past required bi-annual filings. The examiner has stated that the finding will not be included in the exam report but that we will need look into the matter. I have put a call into the FinCEN hotline which requires you to leave a message. As of yet, I have not received a call back.

Has anyone else experienced this issue and if so, how was it handled? My first instinct is to file a new DOEP but the examiner suggested I check with FinCen to make sure the error was not on their end first.

Is there a way for a bank to periodically verify it's list of exemptions against FinCEN's list or is this something only reserved for examiners?

You know, this topic recently came up in a BSA Training that I attended (FinCENs list vs. the Bank's records).

In the audits and examinations I've been through as the BSA Officer, I've never had someone mention the FinCEN list. I'm not sure if they are simply taking my list and ensuring that I've got my paperwork in order for those customers, or if they are actually comparing it to FinCEN.

I'd also be interested in hearing what others have to say about this.

I have a question. If you documented everything appropriately and filed the exemptions as required, why would you even attempt to resolve this? This sounds like FinCEN's issue, not the Bank's.

I'd also be interested if we could query the FinCEN list somehow. Only because when I took over as BSA Officer, some customers had been exempted, as indicated on our system, but the actual filing paperwork was not evident. It has never been an issue with the examiners, but it would be nice to reconcile, just in case.

I was told that FinCEN's records are not for "our" eyes, but only those of our regulatory agencies/examiners.

As far as it being "FinCEN's" issue that they are not showing the exempt customers - it's the old "Do as we say, not as we do." If FinCEN is missing something, then it falls on the bank to fix it. Not fair, but that's how it is.

I had a situation where the examiner couldn't find our exempt customers on FinCEN's list. Customers were exempt for years so we thought maybe we could dig up some documentation in our storage room (we are really behind on file destruction so it was a mountain of boxes to go through). We found some paperwork the next day, only to have the examiner tell me that he was looking at the wrong FinCEN list the whole time...... >:(

We also have examiners here and ran into exactly the same issue. None of the dozen or so DOEP filings/revocations for 2012 were appearing in the list they pulled from the FinCEN database. All but one had been filed via paper; we were lucky to have efiled the last one (mandatory as of 7/1/2012). Examiner was able to use the DCN from the efiled DOEP to eventually locate all the others. This appears to be a growing problem with FinCEN's faulty database; regulators need to push back at them, not us.

That's exactly my point Cape. If this happened at my bank, I would not let an examiner tell me to fix what appears to be FinCEN's problem(s).

How would you even go about following up on this? Yes, you can call the Help Line, but other than that there really isn't any recourse.

ACB, the examiner was as stumped as we were. Wasn't dumping on us to fix the problem, but instead kept digging around in the FinCEN database, based on the info we were able to provide, till the DOEPs were located.

Glad to hear that our bank is not the only one that has experienced this problem.

It has been 2 days since I called the Help Line and still haven't received a response.

The examiner doesn't seem too worried about it and won't be including it in our report. He hasn't mentioned it again. Of course, this set of DOB examiners have been pretty green. I had to explain to one that it is not required to include a cash out of $5,000 on a CTR that was filed for a $12,000 cash in. He didn't agree with me and went and read up on it to make sure.

My concern is when FDIC comes back. They tend to be a little more aggressive.

I tried emailing FinCEN today and received a call within 30 minutes. The caller told me that she did not have access to the exemption lists but that if a customer was not showing up that I need to file a DOEP and backdate it to the original filing date. I am concerned what kind of sirens a backdating to 2003 would set off.

Since you only have two missing exemptions, I'd follow the FinCEN guidance and document the heck out of everything, including who you spoke to,what she said specifically, etc. Good luck.

FinCEN's database is put through a tremendous amount of testing and records just don't go missing. E-filing is great because now you get a BSA ID number and confirmations. If you paper filed it perhaps it didn't make it for whatever reason. If it was sent electronically and you received confirmation, I'd bet the regulator wasn't properly searching the data.

FinCEN's policy decision not to let banks see their own information is senseless and counter productive.

In this case, I would want to see exactly which filings were missing and match them up to previous examinations. In other words, if they are "missing" now, why weren't they cited as MIA during previous examinations? I would not relish relying on research done by state examiners...

Regardless, you got exactly the advice you wanted from the Helpline:



Make it so.

Plan B would involve their saying you need a backfiling determination. The possible downside in research and wasted effort is significant.

If you can establish that you did everything right on your end, this riddle is simply not worth solving. The examiner erred in not mentioning it in the written report. Capitalize on that and just eliminate it from future conversations.

This is just one of several situations where banks are not given access to information that would greatly simplify our role in complying with complex regulations. Validating SSN and EIN numbers is another example.

If you can call FinCEN and they can tell you if you downloaded a 314A list or not, why can't you call them and get the same list of filed exemptions that the regulators have access too???

Just a quick follow-up to this topic - Rec'd an email yesterday from the FDIC examiner who located our "missing" 2012 DOEP filings in the FinCEN database. He said that when he pulled a report for 2011-2013 it did not include 2012 filings. When he did a search for 2012 alone, they were available. The impact of the 7/1/2012 eFiling deadline to the FinCEN database may have had something to do with this snafu. Just an FYI for anyone else that may run into this problem.

Thank you for the update. Compare what you were told to Cape Codder's post #2018273 above.

Ken, just to clarify, my update was to that earlier post (also mine). Or maybe I'm not understanding your comment.

Sometimes I'm oblique. I was attempting to note that 2012 was the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle for both banks' DOEPs. That simply cannot be a coincidence and if other banks have trouble they need to remember this post and ask their examiner to search 2012 by itself, not as part of a string of years as logic would dictate.

We had a BSA exam with the FDIC where they found 1 exemption filing that we showed that FinCEN didn't - back on paper. Apparently, we had evidence that we filed the paper one, but it wasn't mailed with the Return receipt. We were suggested to contact FinCEN to see if we needed to backfile CTRs or just backfile the DOEP. FinCEN said backfile the DOEP. So, we took our paper copy and efiled the thing.

Now that I think about it, if they hadn't scrubbed that process so much, I'd be afraid that there might be more out there unreceived and you don't have to keep initial exemption docs forever, so -- I'd hate to think about having to create DOEPs for account that have been exempted more than 5 years ago. Thankful for efiling!