Tag Archives: David G. Sewell

FinCEN Updates Guidance for Financial Institutions Regarding Hemp-Related Business Customers

by Satish M. Kini, David G. Sewell, and Justin G. Maffett

On Monday, June 29, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued guidance (PDF: 289 KB) to financial institutions, addressing Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (“BSA/AML”) obligations and expectations that apply when providing services to hemp-related businesses. Although last Monday’s guidance generally supplements and amplifies the December 3, 2019 interagency statement (PDF: 75.9 PDF) (which we described in a Client Update published late last year), we wanted to share the following notes and highlights:

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BSA/AML and KYC in a Crisis: Supervisors Provide Guidance as Financial Institutions Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Satish M. Kini, David G. Sewell, Zila Reyes Acosta-Grimes, Isabel Espinosa de los Reyes, Robert T. Dura, and Jonathan R. Wong

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, the U.S. Congress, Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have taken extraordinary measures that would have been unimaginable just weeks ago in an attempt to stabilize the U.S. economy. Financial institutions are on the front lines of many of the new programs and are otherwise taking steps to support customers and communities affected by the crisis—while also protecting their employees through remote work arrangements and other measures.

Meeting obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”) and associated anti-money laundering (“AML”) regulations—as well as supervisory know your customer (“KYC”) expectations—is challenging under ordinary circumstances and even more so in these conditions. Regulators have begun to offer guidance regarding their BSA expectations in these challenging circumstances. We highlight and summarize relevant developments below. Continue reading →