House passes AML/Bank Secrecy Act modernization bill

Federal Issues Federal Legislation U.S. House Anti-Money Laundering FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Bank Secrecy Act Of Interest to Non-US Persons

On October 22, the U.S. House passed the Corporate Transparency Act of 2019 (H.R. 2513) by a vote of 249-173. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, would, among other things, update anti-money laundering (AML) rules, and direct the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to collect and retain beneficial ownership information for corporations and limited liability companies for law enforcement agencies to access. Additionally, H.R. 2513 would update and revise the existing AML/Bank Secrecy Act framework to facilitate information sharing between law enforcement and regulators to prevent illicit activity such as terrorist financing and money laundering. The White House issued a statement of administration policy after the bill’s passage to commend the measure, emphasizing, however, that additional steps must be taken to improve H.R. 2513 as it moves along the legislative process: “These include aligning the definition of ‘beneficial owner’ to the [FinCEN’s] Customer Due Diligence Final Rule, protecting small businesses from unduly burdensome disclosure requirements, and providing for adequate access controls with respect to the information gathered under this bill’s new disclosure regime.”