84104 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 23, 2020 / Notices 

1Section 358 of the USA PATRIOT Act added 

language expanding the scope of the BSA to 

intelligence or counter-intelligence activities to 

protect against international terrorism. 2Treasury Order 180–01 (re-affirmed Jan. 14, 

2020). 3Although 31 U.S.C. 5326 does not mention the 

need for a prescribing regulation, a rule 

corresponding to section 5326 is set forth at 31 CFR 

1010.370. Among other things, the rule defines a 

geographic area. 

a summary of your submission that can 

be made available to the public. 

Privacy Act 

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), 

DOT solicits comments from the public 

to better inform its rulemaking process. 

DOT posts these comments, without 

edit, to www.regulations.gov, as 

described in the system of records 

notice, DOT/ALL–14 FDMS, accessible 

through www.dot.gov/privacy. To 

facilitate comment tracking and 

response, we encourage commenters to 

provide their name, or the name of their 

organization; however, submission of 

names is completely optional. Whether 

or not commenters identify themselves, 

all timely comments will be fully 

considered. If you wish to provide 

comments containing proprietary or 

confidential information, please contact 

the agency for alternate submission 

instructions. 

Authority: 49 CFR 1.93(a), 46 U.S.C. 55103, 

46 U.S.C. 12121 

Dated: December 18, 2020. 

By Order of the Maritime Administrator. 

T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr., 

Secretary, Maritime Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28461 Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–81–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Proposed Renewal; 

Comment Request; Renewal Without 

Change of Bank Secrecy Act 

Regulations Requiring Reports of 

Certain Domestic Transactions 

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network (FinCEN), Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork and respondent 

burden, FinCEN invites comments on 

the proposed renewal, without change, 

of a currently approved information 

collection found in existing Bank 

Secrecy Act regulations. Specifically, if 

the Secretary of the Treasury finds that 

reasonable grounds exist for concluding 

that additional recordkeeping and/or 

reporting requirements are necessary to 

carry out the purposes of Bank Secrecy 

Act, or prevent evasion thereof, the 

Secretary may issue an order that 

imposes certain additional 

recordkeeping and reporting 

requirements on one or more domestic 

financial institutions or nonfinancial 

trades or businesses in a geographic 

area. This request for comments is made 

pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995. 

DATES: Written comments are welcome, 

and must be received on or before 

February 22, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal E-rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Refer to Docket Number FINCEN–2020– 

0019 and the specific Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) control 

number 1506–0056. 

• Mail: Policy Division, Financial 

Crimes Enforcement Network, P.O. Box 

39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket 

Number FINCEN–2020–0019 and OMB 

control number 1506–0056. 

Please submit comments by one 

method only. Comments will also be 

incorporated into FinCEN’s review of 

existing regulations, as provided by 

Treasury’s 2011 Plan for Retrospective 

Analysis of Existing Rules. Comments 

will generally become a matter of public 

record. For this reason, please do not 

include in your comments information 

of a confidential nature, such as 

sensitive personal information or 

proprietary information. Given the 

nature of GTOs and their law 

enforcement purposes, any information 

that concerns confidential matters 

involving specific GTOs should be 

marked ‘confidential’ and include the 

specific name of the GTO.. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The 

FinCEN Regulatory Support Section at 

1–800–767–2825, or electronically at 

frc@fincen.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Statutory and Regulatory Provisions 

The legislative framework generally 

referred to as the Bank Secrecy Act 

(BSA) consists of the Currency and 

Financial Transactions Reporting Act of 

1970, as amended by the Uniting and 

Strengthening America by Providing 

Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept 

and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 

(USA PATRIOT Act) (Public Law 107– 

56) and other legislation. The BSA is 

codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b, 12 U.S.C. 

1951–1959, 31 U.S.C. 5311–5314 and 

5316–5332, and notes thereto, with 

implementing regulations at 31 CFR 

Chapter X. 

The BSA authorizes the Secretary of 

the Treasury, inter alia, to require 

financial institutions to keep records 

and file reports that are determined to 

have a high degree of usefulness in 

criminal, tax, and regulatory matters, or 

in the conduct of intelligence or 

counter-intelligence activities to protect 

against international terrorism, and to 

implement anti-money laundering 

(AML) programs and compliance 

procedures.1 Regulations implementing 

the BSA appear at 31 CFR Chapter X. 

The authority of the Secretary to 

administer the BSA has been delegated 

to the Director of FinCEN.2

Congress amended the BSA in 1988 to 

give the Secretary the authority to issue 

orders under 31 U.S.C. 5326 by passing 

Public Law 100–690, Title VI, § 6185(c). 

This provision was later amended to 

permit issuance of confidential orders, 

lengthen the effective period of orders to 

180 days, cover transactions involving 

transfers of funds, and to clarify that 

orders can be issued upon reasonable 

grounds for concluding that additional 

requirements are necessary to carry out 

the purposes of the subtitle of which 31 

U.S.C. 5326 is a part, or to prevent 

evasions thereof. See Public Law 102– 

550, Title XV, § 1514; Public Law 107– 

56, 353(d); Public Law 115–44, 275. 

Under 31 U.S.C. 5326(a), if the 

Secretary finds that reasonable grounds 

exist for concluding that additional 

recordkeeping and reporting are 

necessary to carry out the purpose of the 

BSA or to prevent evasions thereof, the 

Secretary may issue an order requiring 

any domestic financial institution or 

nonfinancial trade or business or group 

of domestic financial institutions or 

nonfinancial trades or businesses in a 

geographic area to obtain such 

information as the Secretary may 

describe in such order concerning 

certain transactions. 

The authority set forth in 31 U.S.C. 

5326 to impose reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements is selfimplementing.3 Section 5326(a) 

generally requires domestic financial 

institutions or nonfinancial trades or 

businesses in a geographic area that 

receive an order to report, in the manner 

and to the extent specified in an order, 

information concerning any transaction 

in which such financial institution or 

nonfinancial trade or business is 

involved for the payment, receipt, or 

transfer of funds (as the Secretary may 

describe in such order). An order 

typically will include the following 

terms: (i) The dollar amount of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 23, 2020 / Notices 84105 

4Public Law 104–13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A). 

5The number of respondents, 353, is the average 

for 2018 (377), 2019 (259), and 2020 (424). Note that 

FinCEN may issue a GTO to any business in the 

United States. Generally, a GTO is issued to a 

specific sector or business type. 

6The number of responses, 13,719, is the average 

number of responses for 2018 (12,866), 2019 

(14,046), and 2020 (14,244). 

7Although the burden is stated as an annual 

burden in accordance with the PRA, the estimated 

annual burden is not intended to indicate that there 

is a GTO in effect throughout a year or in each year. 

8The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

Occupational Employment Statistics-National, May 

2019, available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/ 

tables.htm. The most recent data from the BLS 

corresponds to May 2019. For the benefits 

component of total compensation, see U.S. Bureau 

of Labor Statistics, Employer’s Cost per Employee 

Compensation as of December 2019, available at 

https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. The ratio 

between benefits and wages for financial activities 

is $15.95 (hourly benefits)/$32.05 (hourly wages) = 

0.50. The benefit factor is 1 plus the benefit/wages 

ratio, or 1.50. Multiplying each hourly wage by the 

benefit factor produces the fully-loaded hourly 

wage per position. The May 2019 Bureau of Labor 

Statistics average hourly wage for ‘‘43–3099 

Financial Clerk’’ is $20.40. ($20.40 × 1.50 = $30.60). 

The Financial Clerk average hourly wage is being 

used here because there is a great deal of variation 

across industries and geographies in who is 

responsible for responding to a GTO. 

transactions subject to the reporting 

requirement; (ii) the type of transactions 

subject to or exempt from the reporting 

requirement; (iii) the appropriate form 

for reporting and the method for form 

submission; (iv) the starting and ending 

dates by which the transactions 

specified in the order are to be reported; 

(v) a point of contact at FinCEN for 

questions; (vi) the amount of time the 

reports and records of reports generated 

are required to be retained; and (vii) any 

other information deemed necessary to 

carry out the purpose of the order. 

Pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 5326(d), no order 

will prescribe a reporting period of more 

than 180 days unless it is renewed 

pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 5326(a). These 

orders are commonly referred to as 

geographic targeting orders (GTOs). 

31 CFR 1010.410(d) requires each 

financial institution or nonfinancial 

trade or business to retain the original 

or a copy or reproduction of a record of 

the information required to be reported 

in a GTO for the period of time specified 

in the order, not to exceed five years. 

II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA) 4

Title: Reports and records of certain 

domestic transactions (31 U.S.C. 5326; 

31 CFR 1010.370 and 1010.410(d)). 

OMB Control Number: 1506–0056. 

Report Number: Not applicable. 

Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this 

notice to renew the OMB control 

number for statutes and regulations 

requiring reports and records of certain 

domestic transactions. 

Affected Public: Businesses or other 

for-profit institutions, and non-profit 

institutions. 

Type of Review: Renewal without 

change of a currently approved 

information collection. 

Frequency: As required. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

353 domestic financial institutions and/ 

or nonfinancial trades or businesses.5

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 

13,719 responses.6

Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Burden: 

Generally the information required to 

be recorded and reported as a result of 

a GTO is basic information to which a 

domestic financial institution or 

nonfinancial trade or business would 

have access in the normal course of 

doing business. For instance, a domestic 

financial institution or nonfinancial 

trade or business involved in a payment, 

receipt or transfer of funds, would have 

access to the information required to be 

reported. The information required to be 

reported for a GTO, generally, includes 

the following: (i) The dollar amount of 

the transaction; (ii) the type of 

transaction; (iii) information identifying 

a party to the transaction, such as name, 

address, date of birth, and tax 

identification number; (iv) the role of a 

party in the transaction (i.e., originator 

or beneficiary); and (v) the name, 

address, and contact information for the 

domestic financial institution or 

nonfinancial trade or business. 

As noted above, FinCEN will specify 

the form and method for reporting. For 

GTOs, FinCEN has used modified 

currency transaction reports and Form 

8300s, and has also created reports 

unique to the GTO when appropriate. 

All responses to GTOs are submitted to 

FinCEN electronically, such as through 

the BSA E-Filing System. 

Because the information to be 

reported is readily available to a 

domestic financial institution or 

nonfinancial trade or business, FinCEN 

estimates that reporting this information 

will take 20 minutes on average. 

Additionally, the GTO information is 

filed electronically, which allows the 

filer to save an electronic version of the 

form and satisfy the recordkeeping 

requirement. Therefore, FinCEN 

estimates that the recordkeeping 

requirement will take 5 minutes on 

average. FinCEN estimates the total 

hourly burden of reporting and 

recordkeeping for each reportable 

transaction under a GTO is 25 minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Reporting 

and Recordkeeping Burden: The average 

number of reportable transactions under 

GTOs is 13,719 responses. 13,719 

responses multiplied by 25 minutes per 

response and converted to hours equals 

5,716 hours.7

Estimated Total Annual Reporting 

and Recordkeeping Cost: 5,716 hours × 

$30.60 per hour 8 = $174,909.60. 

An Agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless the collection of information 

displays a valid OMB control number. 

Records required to be retained under 

the BSA must be retained for five years. 

General Request for Comments: 

Comments submitted in response to this 

notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the request for OMB 

approval. Comments are invited on: (i) 

Whether the recordkeeping of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

(ii) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the collection of 

information; (iii) ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; (iv) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on respondents, including 

through the use of automated collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology; and (v) estimates of capital 

or start-up costs and costs of operation, 

maintenance, and purchase of services 

to provide information. 

Michael Mosier, 

Deputy Director, Financial Crimes 

Enforcement Network. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28431 Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4810–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Proposed Renewal; 

Comment Request; Renewal Without 

Change of Regulations Requiring 

Records to be Made and Retained by 

Financial Institutions, Banks, and 

Providers and Sellers of Prepaid 

Access 

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network (FinCEN), Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork and respondent 

burden, FinCEN invites comments on 

the proposed renewal, without change, 

of currently approved information 

collections found in existing Bank 

Secrecy Act regulations. Specifically, 


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