House Financial Services Committee – FinCEN Director Blanco Written Testimony 5-16-18
What is interesting is what Director Blanco did not have to testify about the enforcement of the new rule. He wrote, in part:
“Although we expect covered institutions to be ready on May 11, 2018, to begin timely and effective implementation of the policies, procedures, and controls required under the CDD Rule—and we are pleased to have heard from many in industry that they were ready—we also understand that institutions, regulators and other stakeholders may need a little extra time to smooth out any wrinkles. This is the case whenever we issue a new rule, the purpose of which is always to enhance our AML regime and not to serve as a vehicle for punishing financial institutions. There is always an understandable expectation that industry’s fine-tuning of its implementation, and the government’s fine-tuning of the examination process itself, takes time and that new questions often emerge after implementation begins. We have spoken with our counterparts, including the Federal Banking Agencies, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to discuss these issues. We are all committed to ensuring that covered financial institutions are able to implement the rule effectively, and in a way that makes practical sense.
Our goal in this rule is to gain the transparency needed to protect the U.S. financial system and to prevent, deter, detect and disrupt money laundering, terrorist financing, and other serious crimes. It is important for us to continue to work with our regulatory partners, their examiners and financial institutions to achieve these objectives through compliance with the rule. It is equally important, however, to understand that seamless implementation does not happen
overnight and, for some areas, we all will need time to benefit from cumulative practical experiences with the new rule as part of the process. In the meantime, we would encourage financial institutions to alert their examiners to any issues early on, and to share such concerns with FinCEN. We will continue to work with industry and regulators to understand and help address any concerns.”
This passage needs to be read carefully. Essentially, there is an expectation that financial institutions’ programs are ready on May 11th, but those institutions and their regulators “may need a little extra time to smooth out any wrinkles.” And that “new questions often emerge after implementation begins” and “we will all need time to benefit from cumulative practical experiences with the new rule”. But what does not appear? Any statement that there will be a period of forbearance. Based on a strict reading of this testimony, covered financial institutions should expect that their programs will be judged as of May 11, and like with everything in BSA/AML, that judgment will be impacted by the environment the financial institution finds itself in at the time of judgment, not the environment it was in at the time of implementation. So beware! When being audited or examined in 2019 or 2020 for your compliance with the CDD Rule, look to the environment at that time – not as it was in May 2018 – for how your program will be judged as it was in May 2018.