FinCENFinancial Crimes Enforcement Network
FinCEN is a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury and the financial intelligence unit (FIU) of the United States. It administers the Bank Secrecy Act, issues AML/CFT regulations, collects and analyzes suspicious activity reports (SARs) and other BSA filings, shares financial intelligence with law enforcement, and takes enforcement action for BSA violations.
Why it matters
Almost every US AML requirement traces back to FinCEN. It writes the rules for customer identification, customer due diligence, recordkeeping and reporting, and receives millions of SARs and currency transaction reports that law enforcement uses in investigations. It also issues advisories and alerts describing red flags for specific typologies, which compliance teams use to tune monitoring scenarios.
FinCEN administers the beneficial ownership reporting regime created by the Corporate Transparency Act, part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020. Following a March 2025 interim final rule and an August 2026 final rule, US companies and US persons no longer have to report; the obligation now applies only to certain foreign companies registered to do business in the US.
In April 2026 FinCEN proposed a rule to overhaul AML/CFT program requirements, with the stated aim of rewarding effective, risk-based programs rather than technical compliance.
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