Proposed Rule to Fundamentally Reform Financial Institution AML/CFT Programs

Fact Sheet: Proposed Rule to Fundamentally Reform Financial Institution AML/CFT Programs On April 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) intended to fundamentally reform financial institutions’ anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The proposed rule (AML/CFT Program Rule NPRM) is part of Treasury’s broader effort to modernize the U.S. AML/CFT regulatory and supervisory framework to better achieve the purposes of the BSA, and is intended to lead to more effective outcomes for financial institutions, as well as law enforcement and national security agencies. The proposed rule sets forth several fundamental reforms to the AML/CFT program requirements and associated supervisory expectations for financial institutions, including:

• refocusing compliance obligations and expectations on effectiveness by distinguishing
  between deficiencies stemming from program design (“establishment”) and program implementation (“maintenance”);
• reinforcing Treasury’s belief that financial institutions are best positioned to identify and
  evaluate their money laundering, terrorist financing, and illicit finance risks;
• empowering financial institutions to direct more attention and resources toward higher￾risk customers and activities rather than toward lower-risk customers and activities;
• clarifying expectations related to certain program requirements and functions—including
  independent testing and audit functions—to ensure that examiners and auditors do not substitute their subjective judgment in place of financial institutions’ risk-based and reasonably designed AML/CFT programs;
• affirming FinCEN’s central role in AML/CFT supervision, including through the
  introduction of a notice and consultation framework between Federal banking supervisors and FinCEN with respect to significant AML/CFT supervisory actions;
• incorporating the AML/CFT Priorities in both AML/CFT program requirements and
  considerations involving significant supervisory or enforcement actions; The AML/CFT Program NPRM also proposes to revise FinCEN’s regulations to reflect statutory changes made by the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Act of 2020 (AML Act). The AML/CFT Program NPRM fully supersedes a prior proposed rule FinCEN published on July 3, 2024, and FinCEN is withdrawing that proposed rule. The following is a general overview of key elements of the AML/CFT Program NPRM. Public comments on the proposed rule must be received by June 9, 2026, and the text of the proposed rule is available here.