Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
The US Treasury bureau that administers the Bank Secrecy Act and serves as the US financial intelligence unit.
Overview
FinCEN writes AML regulations under the BSA, receives suspicious activity and currency transaction reports, issues advisories on typologies, enforces BSA violations and administers beneficial ownership reporting.
Its powers include writing binding rules and investigating and imposing penalties.
In the United States it works at federal level, alongside CFTC, OCC, DOJ and OFAC. Instruments connected to it in this glossary include BSA.
Check the official sources below for legal scope, applicable dates and exceptions. This entry is an explanatory reference, not legal advice.
Why it matters
It can both set the rules and punish breaches of them, so its priorities shape compliance risk directly.
Who it affects
Organisations in financial services and crypto assets in the United States.
Where it sits
Ten linked steps connect where you operate to the proof that you complied.
- 01Jurisdiction
- 02Industry
- 03Activity
- 04Authority
- 05Regulation
- 06Requirement
- 07Guidance
- 08Control
- 09Evidence
- 10Enforcement
Connections
The terms most closely tied to FinCEN. Select one to open it.
What to do about it
- 1Confirm whether FinCEN has power over you, and through which licence, registration, membership or activity.
- 2Follow its rules, guidance and enforcement publications as they are issued.
- 3Map each obligation it creates to a control with a named owner.
- 4Keep examination-ready evidence for its highest-risk obligations.
From requirement to evidence.
Regulation Layer tracks its publications in the change feed, maps its obligations to your controls, and links its enforcement actions to the obligations they cite.
Request early access →