The OFAC website now contains the following  http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/civpen/

Revised Interim Policy and new guidelines, 

Ability to browse enforcement actions dated back to 2003,

Copies of recent final Penalty Notices,

Civil Penalties (CP) Information Chart from January to December 2008,

CP Information Chart contains the aggregate number of penalties per month, total dollar amount per month, and USD YTD totals.

During 2008 OFAC is reporting a total of 99 penalties or settlements with a USD total of $3,504,533. The number of actions per month ranged from 4 to 18, with July 2008 being the highest number of actions (18) and dollar amount actions $1,927,332.  Two large violations of The Cuban Assets Control Regulations during July 2008 were contributing factors to the higher dollar amounts.

Source: OFAC Enforcement Action as of December 5, 2008

ENTITIES – 31 CFR 501.805(d)(1)(i)
Fidelity National Information Services, successor to Certegy Card Services, Settles Allegations of Violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations: Fidelity National Information Services (“Fidelity&rdquo of Maitland, FL, successor to Certegy Card Services (“Certegy&rdquo of St. Petersburg, FL, has remitted $12,260.86 to settle allegations of violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations. OFAC alleged that on or about June through July, 2004, and prior to the February 2006 acquisition of Certegy by Fidelity, Certegy processed transactions on behalf of an individual whose property was blocked pending investigation, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, without an OFAC license. As a remedial measure, upon learning of that failure, Fidelity deployed its OFAC compliance program in order to prevent future violations. Certegy did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.

Eni Petroleum Co. Inc., Settles Iranian Transactions Regulations Allegations: Eni Petroleum Co. Inc., Houston, TX (“Eni&rdquo has remitted $6,562.79 to settle allegations of violations of the Iranian Transactions Regulations occurring on or about October 2003. OFAC alleged that Eni engaged in a trade-related transaction with Iran by facilitating the exportation of goods or services, directly or indirectly, to Iran without an OFAC license. Eni cooperated with OFAC’s investigation. Eni did not voluntarily disclose the matter to OFAC.

Premier Agency Inc. Assessed a Penalty for Violating the Burmese Sanctions Regulations: Premier Agency Inc. (“Premier&rdquo, Jamaica Queens, NY has been assessed a $7,500.00 civil monetary penalty for its violation of the Burmese Sanctions Regulations. On or about December 9, 2005 and March 1, 2006, Premier was issued Requirement to Furnish Information letters regarding a funds transfer. There has been no response to those letters. Premier did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC. For a copy of OFAC’s Penalty Notice issued to Premier, please visit the following url: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/civpen/penalties/premier_pn.

INDIVIDUALS – 31 CFR 501.805(d)(1)(ii)
One individual was assessed a penalty totaling $7,500.00 for violating the Burmese Sanctions Regulations: On or about August 3, 2006 and May 1, 2007, the individual was issued a Requirement to Furnish Information letter requesting information regarding a funds transfer. There has been no response to the letters. The individual did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.

Does anyone offer MSB accounts to customers that fall under the actual limits of dollar amount cashed daily for one customer or the percentage of business needed that require them to get licenses?

If so, how do you monitor these?  I have a customer that does not want to renew the licenses, and states that he falls under the qualifications.

Please advise.

Thanks, Gail T. Vaughn/Surety Bank

Hi all,

I was wondering what are your current procedures for aggregating cash deposit transactions made by non-customers in your banks.

If a cash deposit is made by a non-customer are you requiring the non-customer for identification?

If not, how do you aggregate the cash transactions to prepare a CTR properly in case needed?

I appreciate any feedback. 

Happy holidays!!!!

Currently there are four countries designated under these authorities: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. North Korea was removed in October 2008.

The revised IRS Report
of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) form for the 2008 reporting
period is now available. This form may also be accessed through the IRS website
at www.irs.gov.
This form may be completed using Adobe Reader 7 or higher and a copy saved
electronically.
 
The form should be used to
report a financial interest in, signature authority, or other authority over
one or more financial accounts in foreign countries, as required by the
Department of the Treasury Regulations (31 CFR 103). No report is required if
the aggregate value of the accounts did not exceed $10,000.
 
File this form with: U.S.
Department of the Treasury, P.O.
Box 32621, Detroit, MI 48232-0621

Hello

We require annual site visits to all our commercial customers.  The account officers are responsible for this visit.  We have home based businesses, and in those cases, the account officer will just tell us "Home Business".  I'm curious how other institutions handle these types of businesses.  Do you do site visits to the homes?  Do you do any extra due diligence depending on what type of business it is?  We've had a couple home based businesses that were "Tobacco Wholesalers."  We consider this a high risk business by definition, and if they had a business address, we would certainly require a site visit.  Shouldn't we do the same even if they are operating from home?

Thanks!

FinCEN announced the release of the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual for Money Services Businesses. The manual is 153 pages in length and the format is similar to the FFIEC BSA/AML Examination Manual.
The appendixes contain valuable information.

APPENDIX A-BACKGROUND
APPENDIX B – BSA LAWS AND REGULATIONS 115
APPENDIX C – RISK MATRIX 118
APPENDIX D – SAMPLE REQUEST LETTER AND DOCUMENTS FOR MSBS 124
APPENDIX E – FINCEN SAR QUALITY GUIDANCE 126
APPENDIX F – SAR SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION GUIDANCE 131
APPENDIX G – SAMPLE MSB INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 134
APPENDIX H– GUIDANCE FOR MSBS WITH FOREIGN COUNTERPARTIES OR AGENTS 141
APPENDIX I – CHART OF RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS 148
APPENDIX J – RECORDS COMMONLY FOUND AT MSBS


FinCEN and the IRS will hold several conference calls on January 27, 2009, for the MSB industry to discuss the general outline and procedures included in the examination manual. Sign up for FinCEN Updates at www.fincen.gov to receive more information on these education initiatives.

An examination work program document is available and is an extraction of all examination procedures discussed in the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Examination Manual for Money Services Businesses. The work program covers exam procedures for principal and agent MSBs. All examinations should be risk based and each examination procedure will not be required.

The manual can be found at http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/rp/files/MSB_Exam_Manual.pdf

The manual is expected to:

Enhance the BSA examiners' ability to perform risk-based examinations
Enhance the consistency of BSA examination procedures
Provide a summary of BSA compliance requirements and exam procedures
Facilitate the efficient allocation of exam resources between federal and state BSA regulators
Provide consistency among regulators as well as assist MSBs in their efforts to comply with the law

The manual contains:

An overview of AML program requirements
BSA/AML risks and risk management expectations
Sound industry practices
Examination procedures
An industry overview section

Source:  Department of Treasury  December 4, 2008

A Bulletin from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, December 4, 2008.

The following individuals have been added to OFAC's SDN list:

GELOWICZ, Fritz Martin (a.k.a. GEBERT, Markus; a.k.a. GELOWICZ, Abdullah; a.k.a.
GELOWICZ, Fritz Martin Abdullah; a.k.a. GELOWITZ, Fritz Martin Abdullah; a.k.a.
KONARS, Robert; a.k.a. "BENZL"), Boefinger Weg 20, Ulm  89075, Germany;
Eberhardstrasse 70, Ulm  89073, Germany; DOB 1 Sep 1979; alt. DOB 10 Apr 1979;
POB Munich, Germany; alt. POB Liege, Belgium; citizen Germany; Passport
7020069907 (Germany); Personal ID Card 7020783883; currently incarcerated at
Stuttgart-Stammheim, Germany (individual) [SDGT]

SCHNEIDER, Daniel Martin (a.k.a. SCHNEIDER, Martin Daniel), Petrusstrasse 32,
Herrensohr Dudweiler, Saarbruecken  66125, Germany; zum Gruehlingsstollen 1A,
Friedrichstahl  66299, Germany; Rosenstrasse 2, Friedrichstahl  66299, Germany;
DOB 9 Sep 1985; POB Neunkirchen, Germany; citizen Germany; Federal ID Card
2318229333; Passport 2318047793 (Germany); currently incarcerated at
Schwalmstadt, Germany (individual) [SDGT]

YILMAZ, Adem, Sudliche Ringstrasse 133, Langen  63225, Germany; DOB 4 Nov 1978;
alt. DOB 11 Apr 1978; POB Bayburt, Turkey; citizen Turkey; Passport TR-P 614166
(Turkey); alt. Passport 0018850 (Turkey); currently incarcerated at Weiterstadt,
Germany (individual) [SDGT]

December 2, 2008 FinCEN made available the November 2008 MSB List.

This new November 2008 List, which is current as of November 12, 2008, contains data on 39, 408 registered MSBs.This is an increase of 814 MSB registrations from the October 11, 2008 total of 38,594.

Two dates are being provided on the form as the date the registration form is signed is often missing. The IRS records the date that they received the form which is used. However, when reviewing the list be aware that the registration date and date received should not be significantly different. Both dates are posted to assist with determining when the MSB may be due to renew their registration with FinCEN.

Click on http://www.msb.gov/guidance/msbstateselector.php to access the list.

FinCen posted the final currency transaction reporting exemption rules in the Federal Register on December 4, 2008. The rule is final 30 days AFTER publication to the Federal Register. FinCEN anticipates that the ruling will make the CTR exemption process less burdensome and easier for financial institutions while continuing to report valuable information to law enforcement. The following are changes to the CTR exemption process:

November 26, 2008

Source: OFAC

OFAC has identified the National Iranian Oil Company (aka NIOC), Naftiran Intertrade Company Ltd., (aka NICO) and Naftiran Intertrade Co. Sarl as entities owned or controlled by the government of Iran. To date the Iranian Transaction Regulations appendix found on the OFAC website has only contained financial institutions, this is the first non-financial institutions to be added to the appendix. 

See Attached list.

Thank you to our member Tim White  from Banker's Toolbox for sharing an article that he wrote for the  ABA Magazine titled,  "How To Implement Risk-Based OFAC Monitoring Practices." The article contains 5 steps to the risk assessment and 10 practices for monitoring. I would encourage each of you to read the article as the risk assessment is the cornerstone to an efficient and successful OFAC porgram.  

FinCEN has posted a notice that the most recent MSB registration list is now available on their website. Click on http://www.msb.gov/guidance/msbstateselector.php. There are now 38,594 registered MSBs as of October 11, 2008.