The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced on July 21 that it was delaying the compliance date of the final rule establishing Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Program and Suspicious Activity Report Filing Requirements for Registered Investment Advisers and Exempt Reporting Advisers (Final Rule) from January 1, 2026, to January 1, 2028. [1] FinCEN intends to undertake a broad review of the Final Rule and ensure it is “effectively tailored to the diverse business models and risk profiles of the investment adviser sector.”2 FinCEN, along with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also intends to revisit their joint proposal establishing customer identification program (CIP) requirements for investment advisers. [3] The Final Rule, which applies to registered investment advisers (RIAs) and exempt reporting advisers (ERAs), designates certain RIAs and ERAs as “financial institutions,” prescribes minimum standards for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) programs, requires the filing of certain suspicious activity reports (SARs), and requires compliance with recordkeeping requirements as well as other obligations applicable to financial institutions subject to the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (BSA). [4]
