Banking and Financial Services/Criminal Process: FinCEN Issues Final Rule on Bank Secrecy Act Reg Amendments

On July 29, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published in the Federal Register a final rule that amends the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) regulations applicable to Money Services Businesses with regard to stored value. The FinCEN notice states that the final rule "amends the regulations by: renaming 'stored value' as 'prepaid access' and defining that term; deleting the terms 'issuer' and 'redeemer' of stored value; imposing suspicious activity reporting, customer information and transaction information recordkeeping requirements on both providers and sellers of prepaid access, and, additionally, a registration requirement on providers only; and exempting certain categories of prepaid access products and services posing lower risks of money laundering and terrorist financing from certain requirements." The notice also states that the changes "address regulatory gaps that have resulted from the proliferation of prepaid innovations and their increasing use as an accepted payment method."