The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020: What's Actually Changed in 2022

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, was the most comprehensive reform of the Bank Secrecy Act since the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. The law directed FinCEN to undertake dozens of rulemakings, studies, and program reforms over a multi-year implementation period. Two years into that implementation, the picture is one of significant progress on some fronts and continued uncertainty on others.

The most consequential provision of the AMLA for most regulated businesses is the requirement that FinCEN publish national AML/CFT priorities every two years. FinCEN published its first set of priorities in June 2021, and covered financial institutions are now required to incorporate those priorities into their risk assessments and AML programs. This is not a voluntary best practice - it's a compliance obligation, and examiners are beginning to ask about it in program reviews.

The Corporate Transparency Act, enacted as part of the AMLA, requires most U.S. companies to report their beneficial owners to FinCEN. FinCEN published the final beneficial ownership reporting rule in September 2022, with an effective date of January 1, 2024 for existing companies. Businesses that haven't begun preparing for this requirement are already behind - the reporting infrastructure, the data collection processes, and the internal procedures for maintaining current beneficial ownership records all take time to build.

The AMLA also directed FinCEN to modernize the SAR and CTR filing system, improve information sharing between financial institutions and law enforcement, and strengthen whistleblower protections for BSA compliance officers. Progress on these fronts has been slower than on the beneficial ownership and national priorities provisions, but the direction of travel is clear: the BSA framework is being modernized to address the realities of 21st-century financial crime.

For regulated businesses, the practical implication of the AMLA's implementation is that the compliance standard is rising. Programs that were adequate under the pre-AMLA framework may not satisfy the expectations of examiners who are implementing the new requirements. A program review that evaluates your current program against the AMLA's new requirements - national priorities incorporation, beneficial ownership preparation, and updated training content - is the starting point for ensuring that your program remains current.