# Bank secrecy act 

# DEFINITIONS

## Definitions BSA **31CFR103** 

***[Accept]{.underline}***

A receiving financial institution, other than the recipient\'s financial
institution, accepts a transmittal order by executing the transmittal
order. A recipient\'s financial institution accepts a transmittal order
by paying the recipient, by notifying the recipient of the receipt of
the order or by otherwise becoming obligated to carry out the order.

***[Section 314(a)]{.underline}***

Refers to section 314(a) of the law Uniting and Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism
(USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001, Public Law 107-56. In addition, the final
rule implementing section 314 of the USA PATRIOT Act was issued by the
Department of the Treasury on September 26, 2002, 67 Fed. Reg. 187
(2002). That rule is codified beginning at 31 C.F.R. §103.100.

***[At one time]{.underline}***

For purposes of Sec. 103.23 of this part, a person who transports,
mails, ships or receives; is about to or attempts to transport, mail or
ship; or causes the transportation, mailing, shipment or receipt of
monetary instruments, is deemed to do so "at one time" if:

(1) That person either alone, in conjunction with or on behalf of
    others;

(2) Transports, mails, ships or receives in any manner; is about to
    transport, mail or ship in any manner; or causes the transportation,
    mailing, shipment or receipt in any manner of;

(3) Monetary instruments;

(4) Into the United States or out of the United States;

(5) Totaling more than \$10,000;

(6) \(i\) On one calendar day or (ii) if for the purpose of evading the
    reporting requirements of Sec. 103.23, on one or more days.

***[Bank]{.underline}***

Each agent, agency, branch or office within the United States of any
person doing business in one or more of the capacities listed below:

(1) A commercial bank or trust company organized under the laws of any
    state or of

(2) the United States;

(3) A private bank;

(4) A savings and loan association or a building and loan association
    organized under the laws of any State or of the United States;

(5) An insured institution as defined in section 401 of the National
    Housing Act;

(6) A savings bank, industrial bank or other thrift institution;

(7) **A credit union organized under the law of any state or of the
    United States**;

(8) Any other organization (except a money services business) chartered
    under the banking laws of any state and subject to the supervision
    of the bank supervisory authorities of a state; and

(9) A bank organized under foreign law.

***[Beneficiary]{.underline}***

The person to be paid by a beneficiary\'s credit union or bank.

***[Beneficiary\'s bank]{.underline}***

The credit union, bank or foreign bank identified in a payment order in
which an account of the beneficiary is to be credited pursuant to the
order or which otherwise is to make payment to the beneficiary if the
order does not provide for payment to an account.

***[Business day]{.underline}***

Business day, as used in this part with respect to credit unions, means
that day, as normally communicated to its members, on which a bank
routinely posts a particular transaction to its member\'s account.

***[Currency]{.underline}***

The coin and paper money of the United States or of any other country
that is designated as legal tender and that circulates and is
customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in the country of
issuance. Currency includes U.S. silver certificates, U.S. notes and
Federal Reserve notes. Currency also includes official foreign bank
notes that are customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in
a foreign country.

***[Deposit account]{.underline}***

Deposit accounts include transaction accounts, savings accounts, and
other time deposits.

***[Domestic]{.underline}***

When used herein, refers to the doing of business within the United
States, and limits the applicability of the provision where it appears
to the performance by such institutions or agencies of functions within
the United States.

***[Eligible Non-Listed business]{.underline}***

A business which (1) has had a transaction account at the credit union
for at least 12 months; (2) frequently engages in currency transactions
greater than \$10,000; (3) is incorporated, or organized under the laws
of the United States or a state, or is registered as and eligible to do
business in the United States; and (4) is not an ineligible business.
Eligible non-listed businesses may be exempted only to the extent of
their domestic (i.e. U.S.) operations.

***[Established customer]{.underline}***

A person with an account with the credit union, including a loan account
or deposit or other asset account, or a person with respect to which the
credit union has obtained and maintains on file the person\'s name and
address, as well as taxpayer identification number (e.g., social
security or employer identification number) or, if none, alien
identification number or passport number and country of issuance, and to
which the credit union provides financial services relying on that
information.

***[Execution date]{.underline}***

Execution date is the day on which the receiving financial institution
may properly issue a transmittal order in execution of the sender\'s
order. The execution date may be determined by instruction of the sender
but cannot be earlier than the day the order is received, and, unless
otherwise determined, is the day the order is received. If the sender\'s
instruction states a payment date, the execution date is the payment
date or an earlier date on which execution is reasonably necessary to
allow payment to the recipient on the payment date.

***[FinCEN]{.underline}***

FinCEN means the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, an office within
the Office of the Under Secretary (Enforcement) of the Department of the
Treasury.

***[Foreign bank]{.underline}***

A bank organized under foreign law, or an agency, branch or office
located outside the United States of a bank. The term does not include
an agent, agency, branch or office within the United States of a bank
organized under foreign law.

***[Foreign financial agency]{.underline}***

A person acting outside the United States for a person (except for a
country, a monetary or financial authority acting as a monetary or
financial authority, or an international financial institution of which
the United States Government is a member) as a financial institution,
bailee, depository trustee, or agent, or acting in a similar way related
to money, credit, securities, gold, or a transaction in money, credit,
securities, or gold.

***[Funds transfer]{.underline}***

The series of transactions, beginning with the originator\'s payment
order, made for the purpose of making payment to the beneficiary of the
order. The term includes any payment order issued by the originator\'s
credit union, bank or an intermediary bank intended to carry out the
originator\'s payment order. A funds transfer is completed by acceptance
by the beneficiary\'s credit union or bank of a payment order for the
benefit of the beneficiary of the originator\'s payment order. Funds
transfers governed by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978 (Title
XX, Pub. L. 95-630, 92 Stat. 3728, 15 U.S.C. 1693, et seq.), as well as
any other funds transfers that are made through an automated
clearinghouse, an automated teller machine, or a point-of-sale system,
are excluded from this definition.

***[Ineligible Businesses]{.underline}***

A business engaged primarily in one or more of the following activities:
serving as financial institutions or agents of financial institutions of
any type; purchase or sale to customers of motor vehicles of any kind,
vessels, aircraft, farm equipment or mobile homes; the practice of law,
accountancy, or medicine; auctioning of goods; chartering or operation
of ships, buses, or aircraft; gaming of any kind (other than licensed
pari-mutuel betting at race tracks); investment advisory services or
investment banking services; real estate brokerage; pawn brokerage;
title insurance and real estate closing; trade union activities; and any
other activities that may be specified by FinCEN.

A business that engages in multiple business activities is not an
ineligible business as long as no more than 50% of its gross revenues is
derived from one or more ineligible business activities.

***[Intermediary credit union or bank]{.underline}***

A receiving bank other than the originator\'s bank or the beneficiary\'s
bank.

***[Intermediary financial institution]{.underline}***

A receiving financial institution, other than the transmittor\'s
financial institution or the recipient\'s financial institution. The
term intermediary financial institution includes an intermediary bank.

***[Issuer of traveler\'s checks, money orders, or stored
value]{.underline}***

An issuer of traveler\'s checks, money orders, or stored value (other
than a person who does not issue such checks or money orders or stored
value in an amount greater than \$1,000 in currency or monetary or other
instruments to any person on any day in one or more transactions).

***[Listed Company Subsidiary]{.underline}***

A subsidiary, other than a bank, which is owned at least 51%, and is
controlled by a Listed Company. See 31 CFR 103.22(d)(2) for the extent
to which listed companies' subsidiaries that are financial institutions
may be exempted.

***[Monetary instruments]{.underline}***

Monetary instruments includes currency, traveler\'s checks in any form
and all negotiable instruments (including personal checks, business
checks, official bank checks, cashier\'s checks, third-party checks,
promissory notes (as that term is defined in the Uniform Commercial
Code), and money orders) that are either in bearer form, endorsed
without restriction, made out to a fictitious payee (for the purposes of
Sec. 103.23), or otherwise in such form that title thereto passes upon
delivery.

***[Money services business]{.underline}***

Each agent, agency, branch, or office within the United States of any
person doing business, whether or not on a regular basis or as an
organized business concern, in one or more of the capacities listed in
paragraphs (uu)(1) through (uu)(6) of this section. Notwithstanding the
preceding sentence, the term "money services business" **shall not
include a credit union or bank**, nor shall it include a person
registered with, and regulated or examined by, the Securities and
Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

***[Money transmitter]{.underline}***

In general any person, whether or not licensed or required to be
licensed, who engages as a business in accepting currency, or funds
denominated in currency, and transmits the currency or funds, or the
value of the currency or funds, by any means through a financial agency
or institution, a Federal Reserve Bank or other facility of one or more
Federal Reserve Banks, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, or both, or an electronic funds transfer network.

***[Originator]{.underline}***

The sender of the first payment order in a funds transfer.

***[Originator\'s bank]{.underline}***

The receiving bank to which the payment order of the originator is
issued if the originator is not a bank or foreign bank, or the
originator if the originator is a bank or foreign bank.

***[Payment date]{.underline}***

The day on which the amount of the transmittal order is payable to the
recipient by the recipient\'s financial institution. The payment date
may be determined by instruction of the sender, but cannot be earlier
than the day the order is received by the

recipient\'s financial institution and, unless otherwise prescribed by
instruction, is the date the order is received by the recipient\'s
financial institution.

***[Payment order]{.underline}***

An instruction of a sender to a receiving bank, transmitted orally,
electronically, or in writing, to pay, or to cause another bank or
foreign bank to pay, a fixed or determinable amount of money to a
beneficiary if:

(1) The instruction does not state a condition to payment to the
    beneficiary other than time of payment;

(2) The receiving bank is to be reimbursed by debiting an account of, or
    otherwise receiving payment from, the sender; and

(3) The instruction is transmitted by the sender directly to the
    receiving bank or to an agent, funds transfer system, or
    communication system for transmittal to the receiving bank.

***[Payroll Customers]{.underline}***

A business which (1) has had a transaction account at the credit union
for at least 12 months; (2) frequently withdraws more than \$10,000 in
currency for payroll purposes in order to pay its employees in the U.S.;
(3) is incorporated or organized under the laws of the United States or
a state, or is registered as and eligible to do business in the United
States.

***[Person]{.underline}***

An individual, a corporation, a partnership, a trust or estate, a joint
stock company, an association, a syndicate, joint venture, or other
unincorporated organization or group, an Indian Tribe (as that term is
defined in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act), and all entities
cognizable as legal personalities.

***[Receiving bank]{.underline}***

The bank or foreign bank to which the sender\'s instruction is
addressed.

***[Receiving financial institution]{.underline}***

The financial institution or foreign financial agency to which the
sender\'s instruction is addressed. The term receiving financial
institution includes a receiving bank.

***[Recipient]{.underline}***

The person to be paid by the recipient\'s financial institution. The
term recipient includes a beneficiary, except where the recipient\'s
financial institution is a financial institution other than a bank.

***[Recipient\'s financial institution]{.underline}***

The financial institution or foreign financial agency identified in a
transmittal order in which an account of the recipient is to be credited
pursuant to the transmittal order or which otherwise is to make payment
to the recipient if the order does not provide for payment to an
account. The term recipient\'s financial institution includes a
beneficiary\'s bank, except where the beneficiary is a recipient\'s
financial institution.

***[Retail type of business]{.underline}***

The term ''retail type of business'' means ''a business primarily
engaged in providing goods to ultimate consumers and for which the
business is paid in substantial portions by currency . . . .'' 31 CFR
103.22(b)(2)(i). A business that is primarily engaged in providing
*services*, rather than *goods*, to ultimate consumers (e.g., a car
wash, a dry cleaning store, an appliance repair shop, or a health spa)
does not come within the scope of this exemption. In addition, a
business that is primarily engaged in selling goods wholesale rather
than retail, is not within the scope of this exemption.

***[Seller or redeemer of traveler\'s checks, money orders, or
stored]{.underline}*** ***[value]{.underline}***

A seller or redeemer of traveler\'s checks, money orders, or stored
value (other than a person who does not sell such checks or money orders
or stored value in an amount greater than \$1,000 in currency or
monetary or other instruments to or redeem such instruments for an
amount greater than \$1,000 in currency or monetary or other instruments
from, any person on any day in one or more transactions).

***[Stored value]{.underline}***

Funds or monetary value represented in digital electronics format
(whether or not specially encrypted) and stored or capable of storage on
electronic media in such a way as to be retrievable and transferable
electronically.

***[Structure (structuring)]{.underline}***

For purposes of section 103.53, a person structures a transaction if
that person, acting alone, or in conjunction with, or on behalf of,
other persons, conducts or attempts to conduct one or more transactions
in currency, in any amount, at one or more financial institutions, on
one or more days, in any manner, for the purpose of evading the
reporting requirements under section 103.22 of this part. "In any
manner" includes, but is not limited to, the breaking down of a single
sum of currency exceeding \$10,000 into smaller sums, including sums at
or below \$10,000, or the conduct of a transaction, or series of
currency transactions, including transactions at or below \$10,000. The
transaction or transactions need not exceed the \$10,000 reporting
threshold at any single financial institution on any single day in order
to constitute structuring within the meaning of this definition.

***[Transaction account]{.underline}***

Transaction accounts include those accounts described in 12 U.S.C.
461(b)(1)(C), money market accounts and similar accounts that take
deposits and are subject to withdrawal by check or other negotiable
order.

***[Transaction]{.underline}***

Transaction means a purchase, sale, loan, pledge, gift, transfer,
delivery, or other disposition, and with respect to a credit union
includes a deposit, withdrawal, transfer between accounts, exchange of
currency, loan, extension of credit, purchase or sale of any stock,
bond, certificate of deposit, or other monetary instrument or investment
security, purchase or redemption of any money order, payment or order
for any money remittance or transfer, or any other payment, transfer, or
delivery by, through, or to a financial institution, by whatever means
effected.

***[Transaction in Currency]{.underline}***

A transaction involving the physical transfer of currency from one
person to another. A transaction which is a transfer of funds by means
of credit union check, credit union draft, wire transfer, or other
written order, and which does not include the physical transfer of
currency, is not a transaction in currency for this purpose.

***[Transmittal of funds]{.underline}***

A series of transactions beginning with the transmitter's transmittal
order, made for the purpose of making payment to the recipient of the
order. The term includes any transmittal order issued by the
transmitter's financial institution or an

intermediary financial institution intended to carry out the
transmitter's transmittal order. The term transmittal of funds includes
a funds transfer. A transmittal of funds is completed by acceptance by
the recipient\'s financial institution of a transmittal order for the
benefit of the recipient of the transmitter's transmittal order. Funds
transfers governed by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978 (Title
XX, Pub. L. 95-630, 92 Stat. 3728, 15 U.S.C. 1693, et seq.), as well as
any other funds transfers that are made through an automated
clearinghouse, an automated teller machine, or a point-of-sale system,
are excluded from this definition.

***[Transmitter]{.underline}***

The sender of the first transmittal order in a transmittal of funds. The
term transmitter includes an originator, except where the transmitter's
financial institution is a financial

institution or foreign financial agency other than a bank or foreign
bank.

***[Transmitter's financial institution]{.underline}***

The receiving financial institution to which the transmittal order of
the transmitter is issued if the transmitter is not a financial
institution or foreign financial agency, or the transmitter if the
transmitter is a financial institution or foreign financial agency. The
term transmitter's financial institution includes an originator\'s bank,
except where the originator is a transmitter's financial institution
other than a bank or foreign bank.

***[Transaction]{.underline}***

Transaction includes a deposit, withdrawal, transfer between accounts,
exchange of currency, loan, extension of credit, purchase or sale of any
stock, bond, certificate of deposit, or other monetary instrument or
security, purchase or redemption of any money order, payment or order
for any money remittance or transfer, or any other payment, transfer, or
delivery by, through, or to a financial institution, by whatever means
effected.