While there is nothing new related to 314(b) Information Sharing, FinCEN issued guidance last year in an effort to “rebrand” 314(b) and encourage financial institutions to take advantage of it. While you have to jump through a few hoops to be able to share information with other financial institutions, doing so is very helpful in tracking money laundering and other criminal activities.
Kevin explains more in the video.
If you remember, 314 (b) is the rule that allows financial institutions to share information. However, you have to have a program; and it has to be set up so that you're treating the information you're getting from other financial institutions with appropriate security. And the problem was when this rule came out, 314 (b) originally, there were a lot of other things that were coming down, and a lot of financial institutions since 314 (b) was voluntary, a lot of financial institutions were like, "Look, this looks like something I can get wrong. It looks like something an examiner can come in and look at our program and say, "No, you didn't do this right, and we get some citations." And so many financial institutions haven't been taking advantage of this 314 (b) loophole where you can share information.
And what FinCEN is saying, and really think of this as rebranding 314 (b), is there's nothing new in this guidance. It's just stated in a way it's encouraging financial institutions to take advantage of 314 (b) because it is very helpful. Remember, the AML reform, it's all about sharing information, and these are the tools that are already in place, and this is part of that overarching initiative, trying to get financial institutions to share her information because it's very helpful in tracking dirty money as it goes through the system.
So again, nothing specifically new in Letter D. It's just a rebranding. It encourages banks to do it and lets them know, "Look, we're not going to slap your wrist for trying to do a good deed here." So take a look at that. Read through that if you're not a 314 (b) bank. It may change your mind, and I think that's what they were getting at when they released that.
Published
2022/12/20