Overview
- FinCEN issued an updated Section 314(b) fact sheet on June 12 that explicitly treats suspected fraud as a covered activity, replacing its December 2020 guidance and urging more banks to register to participate.
- The guidance allows registered financial institutions to share information in real time by phone, email or electronic platforms and to use shared data to detect fraud and consider joint suspicious activity reports.
- FinCEN listed specific data types that may be shared, including transaction records, video surveillance, IP addresses, device IDs, geolocation and behavioral flags such as new payees followed by large transfers.
- Longstanding limits remain: institutions still must register with FinCEN, may not disclose a suspicious activity report or reveal that one exists, and must use shared information only for BSA/AML purposes.
- Banks and industry groups praised the clarity but urged Congress to codify a statutory safe harbor because the protection rests on agency interpretation, which could be changed or tested in court and raises cross-border legal questions.