Independent financial advisors could soon face a new complex set of anti-money laundering rules.
FinCEN, is currently drafting a new set of anti-money laundering (or AML) rules for advisors, revising a proposal that was introduced in 2003 but ultimately abandoned in 2008.
The regulations, in “draft review,” could require all investment advisors to implement formal anti-money laundering programs — a shift that would bring RIAs under a similar regulatory regime as those governing broker-dealers, mutual fund complexes and other financial institutions.
This time around, the rules aren’t exactly imminent. The draft rules are currently under an interagency staff-level review, and would next pass to the full Treasury Department, which in turn would submit the proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for a final review before being released to the public for comment. Each phase of the review process could take months — potentially longer, if substantive changes are required.
Yet Steve Hudak, FinCEN’s chief of public affairs, says “the agency is committed to the process, and that the notice of proposed rulemaking could come “possibly this year.”