On December 3, 2018, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued a joint statement (“Joint Statement”) regarding “innovative approaches” to Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) compliance. This is the second joint statement issued this year by the Agencies addressing approaches to BSA/AML compliance. We discussed the Agencies’ previous statement, issued on October 3, 2018, in a prior Client Alert. This new Joint Statement discusses the ways in which banks may, in certain circumstances, be able to increase efficiency and reduce burden by sharing BSA/AML resources.

Both the December 3, 2018 and October 3, 2018 Statements are the product of a working group formed earlier this year by the Agencies to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the BSA (“Working Group”). Read together, the Joint Statements indicate the Agencies’ growing willingness to consider innovative compliance solutions. These developments coincide with continued Congressional interest in modernizing the Bank Secrecy Act through legislative reform, as demonstrated by a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing on the topic, discussed below.