FinCEN's Beneficial Owners Proposal: What It Can Mean for You

Two and a half years ago, FinCEN issued a trial balloon - formally called an "Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" -- to describe a potential proposal for adding regulatory provisions with defined Customer Due Diligence requirements including identification of customers, understanding the nature and purpose of accounts, monitoring, and obtaining beneficial ownership information. After receiving about 90 comments, Treasury held a series of five public hearings during 2012 to get more information on the concerns raised in the formal comments.

Now, after 20 months of relative silence on the topic, FinCEN has finally issued its proposal with a view toward

1. Assisting financial investigations by law enforcement
2. Advancing counterterrorism and broader national security interests
3. Improving a financial institution's ability to assess and mitigate risk
4. Facilitating tax compliance
5. Promoting clear and consistent expectations and practices

In the proposal, FinCEN states its belief that Customer Due Diligence includes at least the following four elements:

1. Indentifying and verifying the identity of customers
2. Identifying and verifying the identity of beneficial owners of legal entity customers
3. Understanding the nature and purpose of customer relationships
4. Conducting ongoing monitoring to maintain and update customer information and to identify and report suspicious transactions

The focus of the FinCEN proposal is the last three elements on that list.

In this webinar, Sonja and John will explain FinCEN's proposed method for obtaining information on beneficial ownership. You'll find out

• How the information will be gathered
• Whose information will need to be obtained
• Which elements of information will be collected
• What FinCEN means by "Legal Entity Customers"
• Which customers can be exempted from the process
• What information you'll need to verify, and how
• What you won't be expected to do . . .for now

You'll also learn what FinCEN proposes to add to the CDD process concerning understanding the nature and purpose of customer relationships and the related matter of ongoing monitoring.

The opportunity to comment on FinCEN's proposal is scheduled to end on October 3, 2014. Now is the time to join Sonja and John in an analysis of the NPRM so that you can better understand the issues, and better appreciate how the proposal could impact your institution.

Who Should Attend:

Auditor; BSA/AML Officer; Compliance Officer; Legal counsel; Risk Management Officer; Senior Management