FinCEN Seeks to Reassert Control Over Anti-Money-Laundering Policy Reform
The U.S. Bank Secrecy Act has long required financial institutions to maintain anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism-financing programs. Banks, however, often expend resources on forms, audits and box-ticking. Congress passed the Anti-Money Laundering Act in 2020, directing the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, to adopt a risk-based approach and encourage technological innovation so oversight can focus on significant illicit-finance and national-security threats.
FinCEN proposed a new rule on April 7, 2026, replacing its July 3, 2024 proposal and directing banks to shift resources from repetitive, low-risk checks to higher-risk activity. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., National Credit Union Administration and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued parallel proposals. The comment period closed on June 9. The proposal does not involve a specific monetary amount, and the industry has urged regulators to streamline reporting forms further.
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The history behind this eventFinCEN AML Proposal Encourages Banks to Use AI and Collaborate
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and federal banking regulators are seeking to make anti-money-laundering programs more risk-based and effective, rather than exercises focused chiefly on procedural compliance. The initiative matters because banks have often been cautious about deploying artificial intelligence or sharing insights across institutions, fearing privacy breaches, model failures and supervisory penalties. Clearer regulatory support could help financial firms direct compliance resources toward the transactions and customers posing the greatest illicit-finance risks.
The proposed framework explicitly encourages banks to test tools including artificial intelligence and federated learning, which can help institutions identify suspicious patterns collaboratively without exchanging underlying sensitive data. Regulators also plan to consider the effectiveness of technological innovation when conducting examinations and weighing enforcement outcomes. The approach is intended to reduce the regulatory uncertainty surrounding trials of new compliance systems, while keeping banks responsible for governance, data protection and the performance of their AML controls.
FinCEN Seeks Advisers to Modernize AML and Implement GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, oversees the Bank Secrecy Act and the anti-money-laundering regime. Its Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group was established by law in 1992 to bring together the financial industry, regulators and law-enforcement agencies. The GENIUS Act, which took effect on July 18, 2025, created a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and requires eligible issuers to comply with the BSA.
FinCEN announced on February 24, 2026, that it was seeking organizational nominations, with applications due March 27. Selected members will serve three-year terms and must attend two plenary meetings each year, without pay or travel reimbursement. Nominees may come from financial institutions, industry groups, regulators and law-enforcement agencies. The panel will advise on BSA modernization, GENIUS Act implementation, AI, digital identity verification and blockchain monitoring.
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