The OCC issued a proposed rule to implement Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions compliance standards applicable to permitted payment stablecoin issuers, as required by the GENIUS Act.
Proposal: The OCC said the proposal would:
-
Create a supervision and enforcement framework for PPSIs’ anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism programs.
-
Require PPSIs to comply with the BSA, sections 4(a)(5) and 4(a)(6)(B) of the GENIUS Act, and applicable regulations issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, including any AML/CFT requirements.
-
Establish a framework for consultation with FinCEN when the OCC intends to initiate an AML/CFT enforcement action or a significant AML/CFT supervisory action.
-
Permit PPSIs to share with the FinCEN certain nonpublic OCC information relating to an existing or potential AML/CFT enforcement action or significant AML/CFT supervisory action.
Comment Period: Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
GENIUS Rulemaking: Federal banking regulators last week proposed requiring issuers to maintain an effective customer identification program, and the OCC recently proposed implementing weekly and quarterly reporting forms for PPSIs.
ICBA View:
-
ICBA this month said it strongly supports a federal illicit-finance framework for PPSIs that is no weaker than the framework applicable to community banks.
-
ICBA also criticized FinCEN’s proposal to not require PPSIs to monitor the secondary market for illicit activity and file suspicious activity reports.
-
ICBA last month urged the OCC to strengthen its proposed GENIUS Act rules to protect against stablecoin risks, and it recently called on the FDIC to adopt a strict payment stablecoin framework.