Advocating for AML/CFT relief across multiple agencies

As part of ongoing efforts to secure regulatory relief for credit unions, America’s Credit Unions filed comments Tuesday addressing three separate anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) proposals.

Sharing support for all three proposals, each comment letter provided specific recommendations.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposal aims to modernize Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and AML/CFT program requirements by focusing on effectiveness, risk-based compliance, and the allocation of resources toward higher-risk activity. In the comment letter, America’s Credit Unions emphasizes that FinCEN should: 

• Clarify that an effective AML/CFT program does not mean a perfect program, and that isolated, technical, or quickly corrected issues should not be treated as program failures;
• Scale expectations for risk assessments, documentation, controls, testing, staffing, and technology to a credit union’s size, complexity, and risk profile;
• Provide clearer guidance on key terms and timing expectations; and 
• Allow credit unions to focus resources on higher-risk activity without being pressured to adopt costly technology or analytics that may not fit their operations.

NCUA (and other regulators) proposed to modernize AML/CFT program requirements and align supervision with a more risk-based approach. America’s Credit Unions calls on NCUA and regulators to: 

• Avoid creating conflicting or more burdensome examination standards for credit unions;
• Ensure examiners focus on serious or systemic AML/CFT program issues, not minor ones;
• Keep FinCEN consultation focused on serious AML/CFT issues, not routine matters corrected during an exam;
• Utilize a clear and practical FinCEN consultation process that does not delay exams, create duplicate reviews, or leave credit unions unsure which regulator is responsible for the final decision; and 
• Use strong confidentiality and privilege protections for information shared with FinCEN, including attorney-client, work-product, bank-examination, and confidential supervisory information protections.

FinCEN and the Office of Foreign Asset Control have proposed AML/CFT and other anti-financial crime obligations for permitted payments stablecoin issuers (PPSIs) America’s Credit Unions believes is in line with the unique risks involving blockchain. America’s Credit Unions recommends additional clarity on:

• Obligations and expectations for an effective BSA and sanctions compliance program for the decentralized finance landscape; 
• A delineation of compliance responsibilities between credit union parent companies and their PPSI subsidiaries and identification and elimination of duplicative obligations;
• Additional know your customer (KYC) and transaction monitoring control details;
• How examiners will assess program effectiveness;
• Expectations for validation, oversight, and reliance on third-party providers; and 
• Compliance obligations for services other than issuance, such as custodial services, on-ramp/off-ramp operations, or aggregation platforms.

America’s Credit Unions also recommends FinCEN provide illustrative examples and interpretive guidance around controls and monitoring tools and address how a PPSI or insured depository institution evaluates a redemption request made by a foreign holder of a permitted payment stablecoin.