FinCEN Keeps Money Laundering Forms Unchanged and Dull
Published Date: 12/10/2025
Notice
Summary
FinCEN is renewing its paperwork rules tied to special measures against certain risky money laundering groups—without making any changes. Banks and businesses affected by these rules should keep following the same info-sharing steps, and the public can comment until February 9, 2026. This renewal keeps things steady with no new costs or surprises, just a smooth continuation of current requirements.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
Paperwork Rules Renewed Without Change
FinCEN is renewing, without change, the information-collection rules tied to Section 311 special measures. If you are a covered financial institution, you must continue following the same notification and recordkeeping steps already required by 31 CFR 1010.653, 1010.659, 1010.660, 1010.661, and 1010.663.
Must Notify Correspondent Account Holders
Covered financial institutions must notify foreign correspondent account holders that they may not provide access to specified entities (including Commercial Bank of Syria; North Korean banking institutions; Bank of Dandong; Iranian financial institutions; and Al-Huda Bank) and must document that notification. These notification and documentation duties are required under the fifth special measure rules cited in this notice.
Estimated Burden Hours and Cost
FinCEN estimates about 127 financial institutions will be affected in a typical year out of a potential universe of about 15,710. The notice estimates per-respondent burden at about 0.45 hours in 2026 and 0.25 hours in later years (FinCEN also reports an average-per-respondent figure of 19 minutes or ~0.32 hours), with a total annual recordkeeping burden of about 40 hours and a total annual cost of $4,828.80.
Five-Year Record Retention Requirement
Records required to be retained under the Bank Secrecy Act must be kept for five years. Covered financial institutions subject to these special-measure rules must retain their documentation for that five-year period.
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