[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 246 (Tuesday, December 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83676-83681]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28255]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal; 
Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Anti-Money Laundering 
Program Requirements for Casinos

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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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, the regulations 
require casinos to develop and implement written anti-money laundering 
programs reasonably designed to ensure and monitor compliance with the 
requirements set forth in the Bank Secrecy Act regulations. Although no 
changes are proposed to the information collection itself, this request 
for comments covers a future expansion of the scope of the annual 
hourly burden and cost estimate associated with these regulations. 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:
    <bullet> Federal E-rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Refer to Docket Number 
FINCEN-2020-0015 and the specific Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
control number 1506-0051.
    <bullet> Mail: Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement 
Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket Number FINCEN-
2020-0015 and OMB control number 1506-0051.
    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. 
All comments submitted in response to this notice will become a matter 
of public record. Therefore, you should submit only information that 
you wish to make publicly available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The FinCEN Regulatory Support Section 
at 1-800-767-2825 or electronically at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8debffeecdebe4e3eee8e3a3eae2fb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3553475675535c5b56505b1b525a43">[email protected]</span></a>.

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) (Pub. L. 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

[[Page 83677]]

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\
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    \1\ Section 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.
    \2\ Treasury Order 180-01 (re-affirmed Jan. 14, 2020).
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    Section 352 of the USA PATRIOT Act added subsection (h) to 31 
U.S.C. 5318 of the BSA. Section 352 mandates that financial 
institutions establish AML programs in order to guard against money 
laundering. Such AML programs must include, at a minimum, the 
following: (a) The development of internal policies, procedures, and 
controls, (b) the designation of a compliance officer, (c) an ongoing 
employee training program, and (d) an independent audit function to 
test programs. Pursuant to section 352, FinCEN issued a regulation 
requiring casinos to develop and implement written AML programs.\3\ 
This notice only proposes to renew the OMB control number associated 
with the casino AML program regulations.\4\
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    \3\ 31 CFR 1021.210.
    \4\ Card clubs are included in the casino AML program 
regulations, and any reference to casinos used in BSA regulations 
includes card clubs, unless specifically noted. See 31 CFR 
1010.100(t)(5)(iii).
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II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) <SUP>5</SUP>
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    \5\ Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).
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    Title: AML program requirements for casinos (31 CFR 1021.210, 31 
CFR 1021.410(b)(10)).
    OMB Control Number: 1506-0051.
    Report Number: Not applicable.
    Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this notice to renew the OMB control 
number for the AML program regulatory requirements for casinos.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit institutions, and 
non-profit institutions.
    Type of Review:
    <bullet> Renewal without change of a currently approved information 
collection.
    <bullet> Propose for review and comment a renewal of the portion of 
the PRA burden that has been subject to notice and comment in the past 
(the ``traditional annual PRA burden'').
    <bullet> Propose for review and comment a future expansion of the 
scope of the PRA burden (the ``future annual PRA burden'').
    Frequency: As required.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 993 casinos.\6\
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    \6\ Table 1, infra, below sets forth a breakdown of the types of 
casinos covered by this notice.
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    Estimated Recordkeeping Burden:
    Part 1 of this notice describes the breakdown of the estimated 
number of casinos, by type. Part 2 proposes for review and comment a 
renewal of the estimate of the traditional annual PRA hourly burden, 
which includes an annual hourly burden estimate per casino similar to 
the estimate used in the past, with the incorporation of a more robust 
cost estimate. The scope and methodology used in the past assigned a 
total annual hourly burden estimate, per casino, to multiple 
recordkeeping requirements within the regulations, rather than 
assigning an annual hourly burden estimate, per casino, to each unique 
AML recordkeeping requirement.\7\ In the past, one annual hourly burden 
estimate per casino was used to encompass all of the recordkeeping 
requirements included in the AML program requirements for casinos. Part 
3 of this notice proposes for review and comment a methodology for a 
future estimate of an annual PRA burden. The estimate would include the 
PRA burden and cost broken down by each recordkeeping requirement in 
the casino AML program regulations. Finally, Part 4 solicits input from 
the public about: (a) The accuracy of the traditional annual PRA burden 
estimate; (b) the more granular calculation needed to establish a 
future annual PRA burden, of the hourly and cost burden per casino AML 
program recordkeeping requirement; (c) the criteria, metrics, and most 
appropriate questions FinCEN should consider when researching the 
information to estimate the future annual PRA burden; and (d) any other 
comments about the regulations and the current and proposed future 
hourly burden and cost estimates of these requirements.
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    \7\ The casino AML program regulations have two unique 
requirements. Specifically, 31 CFR 1021.210(b)(2)(v) provides that a 
casino must establish procedures for using all available information 
to determine, when required by the BSA regulatory requirements, the 
name, address, social security number, and other information, and 
verification of the same, of a person; the occurrence of any 
transactions or patterns of transactions required to be reported 
pursuant to 31 CFR 1021.320; and whether any record as described in 
subpart D of part 1010 or part 1021 must be made and retained. 31 
CFR 1021.210(b)(2)(vi) provides that, for those casinos that have 
automated data processing systems, their AML compliance program must 
provide for the use of automated programs to aid in ensuring 
compliance.
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Part 1. Breakdown of the Casinos <SUP>8</SUP> Covered by This Notice
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    \8\ Card clubs are not included in the breakdown of casinos 
covered by this notice. The omission of card clubs in the total 
number of casinos in Table 1 will reduce the total hourly burden 
estimate in Table 2, infra, from its actual number.
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    The breakdown of casinos, by type, covered by this notice is 
reflected in Table 1 below:
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    \9\ According to numbers provided to FinCEN by the American 
Gaming Association (AGA), there are 466 commercial casinos as of 
October 20, 2020.
    \10\ According to numbers provided to FinCEN by the AGA, there 
are 527 tribal properties as of October 20, 2020.
    \11\ According to numbers provided to FinCEN by the AGA, the 
total number of casinos includes 223 commercial and tribal casinos 
in Nevada as of October 20, 2020. This number does not include 
restricted locations, i.e., those with 15 slot machines or fewer.

    Table 1--Breakdown of Casinos Covered by This Notice, by Type of
                          Financial Institution
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Number of
                       Type of casino                           casinos
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Casino......................................................     \9\ 466
Tribal Casino...............................................    \10\ 527
                                                             -----------
  Total number of casinos...................................    \11\ 993
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Part 2. Traditional Annual PRA Burden and Cost

    The scope of the traditional annual PRA burden and cost estimates 
in this renewal encompasses all of the recordkeeping requirements 
included in the AML program requirements for casinos, notably: 
Maintaining and updating the written AML program (Action A); storing 
the written AML program (Action B); producing a copy of the written AML 
program if requested by regulatory examiners or law enforcement (Action 
C); and complying with the requirements in 31 CFR 1021.210(b)(2)(v) and 
(vi) (Action D). The prior renewal did not break the requirements down 
into a burden estimate for each recordkeeping requirement, but instead 
estimated that all of the requirements combined would require 100 
hours.\12\ In future estimates, FinCEN intends to estimate burden based 
on each individual requirement set out in 31 CFR 1021.210.
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    \12\ See 82 FR 31636 (July 7, 2017).
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    For purposes of the estimate of the AML program traditional annual 
PRA burden, FinCEN has made the following assumptions:
    (a) The written AML program is stored as an electronic file. The 
estimated annual burden (5 minutes per

[[Page 83678]]

financial institution) represents the administrative burden involved in 
processing the storage of the written program, and not just the time of 
actual electronic storage, which would be nearly instantaneous.
    (b) Producing the written AML program electronically to regulatory 
or law enforcement agencies, upon their request. FinCEN estimates the 
annual burden of producing the written program at 5 minutes per 
financial institution. The estimated annual burden represents the 
administrative burden involved in producing the program upon request, 
and not just the time required to make the program available to the 
requestor for inspection (for example, the actual electronic 
transmission), which would be nearly instantaneous.
    The estimated burden associated with each portion of the 
traditional annual PRA estimate is as follows:
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    \13\ As set out in Table 1 above.
    \14\ We are estimating the annual recordkeeping burden per 
recordkeeper as 1 hour for casinos, consistent with our calculation 
of 1 hour for maintaining and updating the written AML program in 
the 60-day notice to renew AML programs for certain financial 
institutions (85 FR 49418 (Aug. 13, 2020)).

               Table 2--Burden Associated With Each Portion of the Traditional Annual PRA Estimate
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                                                                                     Number of     Total hourly
              Action                  Instances per year     Time per instance     casinos \13\       burden
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A. Maintaining and updating the     1 per casino.........  1 hour \14\..........             993             993
 written AML program.
B. Storing the written AML program  1 per casino.........  5 minutes............             993            * 83
C. Producing the AML program upon   1 per casino.........  5 minutes............             993            * 83
 request.
D. Ongoing Compliance with the      1 per casino.........  99 hours.............             993          98,307
 requirements in 31 CFR
 1021.210(b)(2)(v) and (vi).
                                                                                 -------------------------------
    Total Hourly Burden...........  .....................  .....................  ..............          99,466
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* 82.75 rounded to 83.

    To calculate the hourly costs of the burden estimate, FinCEN 
identified three roles and corresponding staff positions involved in 
maintaining an AML program: (i) General supervision (providing process 
oversight); (ii) direct supervision (reviewing operational-level work 
and cross-checking all or a sample of the work product against 
supporting documentation); and (iii) clerical work (engaging in 
research and administrative review and filing and producing the AML 
program on request).
    FinCEN calculated the fully-loaded hourly wage for each of these 
three roles by using the median wage estimated by the U.S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics (BLS),\15\ and computing an additional benefits cost 
as follows:
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    \15\ The 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/news.release/ecec.nr0.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.

  Table 3--Fully-Loaded Hourly Wage by Role and BLS Job Position for All Financial Institutions Covered by This
                                                     Notice
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                                                                   Median hourly                   Fully-loaded
             Role                  BLS-code         BLS-name           wage       Benefit factor    hourly wage
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General supervision...........         11-3031  Financial                 $62.45            1.50          $93.68
                                                 Manager.
Direct supervision............         13-1041  Compliance                 33.20            1.50           49.80
                                                 Officer.
Clerical work (research,               43-3099  Financial Clerk.           20.40            1.50           30.60
 review, and filing and
 producing the program upon
 request).
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    FinCEN estimates that, in general and on average,\16\ each role 
would spend different amounts of time on each portion of the 
traditional annual PRA burden, as follows:
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    \16\ By ``in general,'' FinCEN means without regard to outliers 
(e.g., financial institutions with AML programs with complexities 
that are uncommonly higher or lower than those of the population at 
large). By ``on average,'' FinCEN means the mean of the distribution 
of each subset of the population.
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    For Action A set out in Table 2 above, annually maintaining and 
updating the AML program documentation, the cost of each hour of burden 
is estimated to be $48.00, as shown in Table 4 below.

                               Table 4--Weighted Average Hourly Cost of Maintaining and Updating AML Program Documentation
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            General supervision                         Direct supervision                      Clerical work (case review)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Weighted average
       % time              Hourly cost             % time              Hourly cost             % time              Hourly cost           hourly cost
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               10                 $9.37                    60                $29.88                    30                 $9.18              * $48.00
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*$48.43 rounded to $48.00.


[[Page 83679]]

    For Actions B, C, and D set out in Table 2 above, the cost of each 
hour of burden is estimated to be $33.00, as shown in Table 5 below:
    <bullet> Action B--storing the AML program.
    <bullet> Action C--producing of the AML program upon request.
    <bullet> Action D--complying with requirements in 31 CFR 
1021.210(b)(2)(v) and (vi).

    Table 5--Weighted Average Hourly Cost of Storing and Producing AML Program Documentation Upon Request, and Complying With Requirements in 31 CFR
                                                               1021.210(b)(2)(v) and (vi)
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            General supervision                         Direct supervision                     Clerical work (recordkeeping)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Weighted average
       % time              Hourly cost             % time              Hourly cost             % time              Hourly cost           hourly cost
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                1                 $0.94                     9                 $4.48                    90                $27.54              * $33.00
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* $32.96 rounded to $33.00.

    The total cost of the traditional annual PRA burden would be 
$3,297,273 as reflected in Table 6 below:

                              Table 6--Total Cost of Traditional Annual PRA Burden
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                                       Total burden                   Hourly cost
                                         in hours    --------------------------------------------
               Action                ----------------                                               Total cost
                                         (Table 2)           $                  Source
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A. Maintaining and updating the                  993          $48.00  Table 4...................         $47,664
 written AML program.
B. Storing the written AML program..            * 83           33.00  Table 5...................           2,739
C. Producing the written AML program            * 83           33.00  Table 5...................           2,739
 upon request.
D. Ongoing compliance with the                98,307           33.00  Table 6...................       3,244,131
 requirements in 31 CFR
 1021.210(b)(2)(v) and (vi).
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    Total Cost......................  ..............  ..............  ..........................       3,297,273
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* 82.75 rounded to 83.

Part 3. Future Annual PRA Burden

    In the future, FinCEN intends to be more granular in estimating the 
annual PRA burden, by calculating the burden and cost attributed to 
certain, but not all, activities necessary to implement the four key 
elements of an AML program.\17\
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    \17\ Although FinCEN is providing information about burden and 
cost with respect to the four key elements of an AML program, FinCEN 
wants to emphasize that the four key elements of an AML program are 
statutory requirements. The four key elements of an AML program are: 
(a) Establishing policies, procedures, and internal controls 
reasonably designed to ensure compliance with the BSA; (b) 
designating a person to ensure day to day compliance with the AML 
program and the BSA; (c) providing education and training to 
appropriate personnel concerning their responsibilities under the 
AML program; and (d) implementing an independent review to monitor 
and maintain an adequate AML program.
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    The burden hours and cost of two of the key elements of an AML 
program (internal controls, and designation of a BSA compliance 
officer) are accounted for individually across all of the 42 OMB 
control numbers FinCEN maintains for the various BSA regulatory 
requirements because those requirements necessitate that internal 
controls be put in place and that a BSA compliance officer be 
designated. For that reason, for the OMB control numbers and related 
regulations renewed in this notice, FinCEN generally does not intend to 
estimate burden hours and cost applicable to these two key elements in 
the future annual PRA burden.
    The future annual PRA burden calculation will include the estimated 
burden and cost to implement the other two key elements of an AML 
program ((c) BSA training, and (d) independent audit) relating to the 
regulations and corresponding OMB control number being renewed in this 
notice. The future annual PRA burden calculation also will include the 
estimated burden and cost for a casino to (a) provide procedures to 
determine customer identification information, and the occurrence of 
suspicious activity transactions, and (b) use automated programs to aid 
in ensuring compliance, if the casino has automated data processing 
systems. These additional two elements are requirements of the casino 
AML program regulations, which are being renewed in this notice.
    To further clarify, below are lists of actions FinCEN intends to 
(1) include in a future annual PRA burden estimate relating to the 
regulations and OMB control number renewed in this notice, and (2) 
cover in OMB control number renewals associated with other BSA 
regulatory requirements.
    (a) FinCEN intends to include the following within a future annual 
PRA burden estimate for casinos:
    i. Any generic BSA-related education and training provided to all 
levels of the organization, and any training provided to appropriate 
personnel on BSA issues in excess of that required by their job-
specific responsibilities under their financial institution's AML 
program.
    ii. The burden and cost of any internal or external independent 
review of compliance with BSA-specific obligations.
    iii. The annual burden and cost of implementation of a compliance 
program that includes procedures to determine customer identification 
information and the occurrence of suspicious activity transactions.
    iv. For casinos that have automated data processing systems, the 
annual cost and burden of implementation of a compliance program that 
provides for the use of automated programs to aid in ensuring 
compliance.
    (b) FinCEN does not intend to include the following as part of a 
future annual PRA burden estimate:
    i. The annual PRA burden and cost of the policies, procedures, and 
internal controls established in the AML

[[Page 83680]]

program to ensure compliance with the BSA; \18\
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    \18\ As noted above, the burden hours and cost of internal 
controls will be accounted for individually across all of the 42 OMB 
control numbers FinCEN maintains for the various BSA regulatory 
requirements because those requirements necessitate that internal 
controls be put in place.
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    ii. the designation of a person to ensure day to day compliance 
with the financial institution's AML program and the BSA; \19\ and
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    \19\ As noted above, the burden hours and cost of a BSA 
compliance officer will be accounted for individually across all of 
the 42 OMB control numbers FinCEN maintains for the various BSA 
regulatory requirements because those requirements necessitate that 
a BSA compliance officer be designated.
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    iii. AML education and training provided to personnel relating to 
their job specific responsibilities.\20\
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    \20\ As noted above, generic BSA-related training provided to 
all levels of the organization will be included in future burden and 
cost estimates corresponding to the OMB control numbers being 
renewed in this notice. Job-specific training related to specific 
BSA requirements, will be covered in the OMB control numbers 
corresponding to those specific BSA requirements.
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    FinCEN does not have the necessary information to provide a 
tentative estimate for the PRA hourly burdens and costs it intends to 
address in the future. In addition, FinCEN does not have all the 
necessary information to more accurately estimate the traditional 
annual PRA burden. For that reason, FinCEN is relying on estimates used 
in prior renewals of this OMB control number and the applicable 
regulations. FinCEN further recognizes that after receiving public 
comments as a result of this notice, future traditional annual PRA 
hourly burden and cost estimates may vary significantly. FinCEN intends 
to conduct more granular studies of the actions included in the 
proposed scope of the annual PRA burden in the near future, to arrive 
at more accurate estimates of net BSA hourly burden and cost.\21\ The 
data obtained in these studies also may result in a significant 
variation of the estimated traditional annual PRA burden.
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    \21\ Net hourly burden and cost are the burden and cost a 
financial institution incurs to comply with requirements that are 
unique to the BSA, and that do not support any other business 
purpose or regulatory obligation of the financial institution. 
Burden for purposes of the PRA does not include the time and 
financial resources needed to comply with an information collection, 
if the time and resources are for things a business (or other 
person) does in the ordinary course of its activities if the agency 
demonstrates that the reporting activities needed to comply are 
usual and customary. 5 CFR 1320.3(b)(2).
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    Estimated Recordkeeping Burden: The average estimated annual PRA 
burden, measured in hours per respondent, is: 1 hour per casino, for 
maintaining and updating the AML program (Action A); 5 minutes per 
casino, for storing the written AML program (Action B); 5 minutes per 
casino, for producing a copy of the AML program if requested by 
regulatory examiners or law enforcement (Action C); and 99 hours per 
casino, for complying with the requirements in 31 CFR 1021.210(b)(2)(v) 
and (vi) (Action D).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 993, as set out in Table 1.
    Estimated Total Annual Recordkeeping Burden: The estimated total 
annual PRA burden is 99,466 hours, as set out in Table 2.
    Estimated Total Annual Recordkeeping Cost: The estimated total 
annual PRA cost is $3,297,273, as set out in Table 6.
    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.

Part 4. Request for Comments

    (a) Specific request for comments on the traditional annual PRA 
hourly burden and cost.
    FinCEN invites comments on any aspect of the traditional annual PRA 
burden, as set out in Part 2 of this notice. In particular, FinCEN 
seeks comments on the adequacy of: (i) FinCEN's assumptions underlying 
its burden estimate; (ii) the estimated number of hours required by 
each portion of the burden; and (iii) the organizational roles of the 
casino engaged in each portion of the burden, the roles' estimated 
hourly remuneration, and the estimated proportion of time spent by each 
role on the requirements. FinCEN encourages commenters to include any 
publicly available sources for alternative estimates or methodologies.
    (b) Specific request for comments on the appropriate criteria, 
methodology, and questionnaire required to obtain information to more 
precisely estimate the future annual PRA hourly burden and cost.
    FinCEN invites comments on the most appropriate and comprehensive 
means to question financial institutions about the annual hourly burden 
and cost. For example, as it relates to training, independent review, 
and maintaining and updating the AML program:
    Training:
    (1) How much time is spent on creating and implementing the AML 
training plan?
    (2) How much time is spent on delivering instructor led training or 
creating web- based training?
    (3) How much time does the casino's compliance department spend on 
creating AML related training content, or is the training function 
conducted by a team outside of the casino's compliance department?
    (4) How much time is spent identifying the proper audience for 
training?
    (5) How much time is spent tracking, and reporting on, AML-related 
training?
    Independent Review:
    (1) How much of the casino's compliance department's time is spent 
on responding to inquiries or correcting deficiencies related to the 
independent review of the AML program?
    (2) If the independent review is conducted by an internal audit 
department, how much of the internal audit department's time is spent 
creating and implementing the required testing plan for the independent 
review?
    Updating and Maintaining a Written AML Program:
    On average, how many times per year does your casino update its AML 
program?
    The future annual PRA hourly burden and cost estimate of the 
recordkeeping necessary to comply with the AML program requirements for 
casinos must take into consideration only the effort involved in 
obtaining those data elements that are used exclusively for complying 
with requirements under 31 CFR 1021.210. Given the complexity in 
determining what portion of the effort to include in the estimate, 
FinCEN seeks comments from the public regarding any questions we should 
consider posing in future notices, in addition to the specific 
questions for comment outlined directly below. FinCEN welcomes any 
suggestions as to how to derive these estimates by using publicly 
available financial information.
    (c) Specific questions for comment associated with implementing a 
compliance program that includes procedures to determine customer 
identification information and the occurrence of suspicious activity 
transactions, when required by BSA regulations.
(1) Customer Identification Procedures
    <bullet> On average, how long does it take your casino to establish 
procedures for using all available information to determine and verify 
the name, address, social security number, and other information, of a 
person?
    <bullet> Does your casino have a review and approval process 
involving senior management to evaluate the procedures used for 
determining and verifying customer identification information? On 
average, how long does the review

[[Page 83681]]

process take and how many approvals are necessary?
    <bullet> How frequently does your casino collect and verify the 
name, address, social security number, and other information, of a 
person?
    <bullet> On average how many new accounts does your casino open per 
year?
    <bullet> How many accounts are for new customers?
    <bullet> How long does it take your casino to open a new account 
for an existing customer?
    <bullet> How long does it take your casino to conduct identity 
verification procedures for a new personal or business account?
    <bullet> Is the collection of customer identification information 
exclusively to comply with customer identification requirements, or is 
it also to comply with other regulatory requirements or for other 
business reasons?
(2) Suspicious Activity Procedures
    <bullet> On average, how long does it take your casino to establish 
procedures for using all available information, including your 
automated systems and your surveillance system and surveillance logs, 
to determine the occurrence of any transactions or patterns of 
transactions required to be reported as suspicious?
    <bullet> Does your casino have a review and approval process 
involving senior management to evaluate the procedures used for 
determining suspicious activity? On average, how long does the review 
process take and how many approvals are necessary?
    (d) Specific questions for comment associated with implementation 
of a compliance program that provides for the use of automated programs 
to aid in ensuring compliance, for casinos that have automated data 
processing systems:
    <bullet> Does your casino use automated data processing systems?
    <bullet> How does your casino use its automated data processing 
systems to aid in ensuring compliance?
    <bullet> Does your casino have a review and approval process 
involving senior management to evaluate the use of its automated data 
processing systems? On average, how long does the review process take 
and how many approvals are necessary?
    (e) General request for comments.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will 
become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on: (i) Whether 
the collection 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 G. Mosier,
Deputy Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2020-28255 Filed 12-21-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-02-P


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