[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 14 (Monday, January 25, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6964-6969]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01451]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal; 
Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Transactions of Exempt 
Persons Regulations, and FinCEN Report 110, Designation of Exempt 
Person Report

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 
permit banks to file a FinCEN Report 110, Designation of Exempt Person 
(``DOEP Report''), to designate eligible customers as exempt persons, 
such that a bank is not required to file a report with respect to any 
transaction in currency over $10,000 with such customers. Under the 
regulations, a bank, to exempt a person, must also take steps to ensure 
that a person meets the requirements for an exemption, document the 
basis for the bank's initial conclusion that a person is exempt, 
annually review the eligibility of certain exempt persons, document 
compliance with the DOEP Report requirements, and maintain a monitoring 
system that is reasonably designed to detect, for each account of a 
non-listed business or payroll customer, transactions in currency 
requiring a bank to file a suspicious transaction report. 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 
March 26, 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-2020-0018 and the specific Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
control number 1506-0012.
    <bullet> Mail: Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement 
Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket Number FINCEN-
2020-0018 and OMB control number 1506-0012.
    Please submit comments by one method only. Comments will also be 
taken into account in FinCEN's review of existing regulations, 
consistent with 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#fb9d8998bb9d9295989e95d59c948d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6503170625030c0b06000b4b020a13">[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 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. Section 6101 
of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 added language further 
expanding the scope of the BSA but did not disturb these 
longstanding purposes.
    \2\ Treasury Order 180-01 (re-affirmed Jan. 14, 2020).
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    The requirement for financial institutions to report certain 
transactions in currency has been an important component of the BSA 
from its inception.\3\ Regulations

[[Page 6965]]

implementing this requirement have long established a one-person, one-
day, one-institution aggregate currency transaction threshold of 
$10,000, above which every financial institution must file a Currency 
Transaction Report (CTR).\4\ The Money Laundering Suppression Act of 
1994 amended the BSA to create certain mandatory exemptions applicable 
to banks from the requirement for financial institutions to file CTRs, 
and to give the Secretary authority to create additional such 
exemptions.\5\ Regulations implementing this exemption authority, 
including by requiring the collection of information on the DOEP 
Report, are found at 31 CFR 1020.315.
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    \3\ Public Law 91-508 (Oct. 26, 1970), 84 Stat. 1122.
    \4\ 31 CFR 1010.311.
    \5\ Public Law 103-325, Title IV, Section 402 (Sep. 23, 1994), 
108 Stat. 2243. These authorities are codified at 31 U.S.C. 5313(d) 
(mandatory exemptions) and (e) (discretionary exemptions).
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    Under 31 CFR 1020.315(a), a bank is not required to file a CTR with 
respect to any transaction in currency between exempt persons and the 
bank, or between an exempt person and other banks that are affiliated 
with the bank.\6\
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    \6\ 31 CFR 1010.315(a). The exemption does not apply when the 
exempt person is acting as agent for another person who is the 
beneficial owner of the funds that are the subject of the 
transaction. 31 CFR 1010.315(f).
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    31 CFR 1020.315(b) sets out that an exempt person is: (1) A bank, 
to the extent of such bank's domestic operations; (2) a department or 
agency of the United States, of any State, or of any political 
subdivision of any State; (3) any entity established under the laws of 
the United States, any State, or any political subdivision of any 
State, or under an interstate compact, that exercises governmental 
authority on behalf of the United States, any such State, or any such 
political subdivision; (4) any entity, other than a bank, whose common 
stock or analogous equity interests are listed on the New York Stock 
Exchange, the American Exchange, or the NASDAQ Stock Market (a ``listed 
entity''), provided that, if the listed entity is a financial 
institution other than a bank, it is an exempt person only to the 
extent of its domestic operations; (5) any subsidiary, other than a 
bank, of a listed entity mentioned in the previous item (4) that is 
organized under the laws of the United Sates or of any State, provided 
that the listed entity owns at least 51 percent of the equity interest 
of the subsidiary, and subject to the qualification that if the 
subsidiary is a financial institution other than a bank, it is an 
exempt person only to the extent of its domestic operations; (6) any 
other commercial enterprise, with certain exceptions, that maintains a 
transaction account at the bank for at least two months, frequently 
engages in transactions with the bank in currency in excess of $10,000, 
and is incorporated or organized under the laws of, or is registered as 
and eligible to do business within, the United States or a State (a 
``non-listed business''), but only to the extent of the non-listed 
business customers' domestic operations and only with respect to 
transactions conducted through the non-listed business customer's 
exemptible accounts; or (7) any other person, with certain exceptions, 
that maintains a transaction account at the bank for at least two 
months, operates a firm that frequently withdraws more than $10,000 in 
order to pay its U.S. employees in currency, and is incorporated or 
organized under the laws of, or is registered as and eligible to do 
business within, the United States or a State (a ``payroll customer''), 
but solely with respect to withdrawals for payroll purposes from 
existing exemptible accounts.\7\
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    \7\ In certain circumstances, a limited exemption from the two 
month transaction account holding requirement may apply to non-
listed business and payroll customers pursuant to the special rule 
at 31 CFR 1010.315(c)(2)(ii).
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    31 CFR 1020.315(c)(1) requires a bank to designate an exempt person 
by filing the DOEP Report \8\ within 30 calendar days after the day of 
the first reportable transaction in currency with that person that the 
bank seeks to exempt from reporting. A bank holding company or one of 
its bank subsidiaries may make such a designation on behalf of any or 
all of the bank holding company's bank subsidiaries by listing those 
bank subsidiaries in the DOEP Report that it files.\9\ However, a bank 
is not required to file a DOEP Report for transfer of currency to or 
from (1) any of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, (2) a bank, to the extent 
of such bank's domestic operations, (3) a department or agency of the 
United States, of any State, or of any political subdivision of any 
State, or (4) any entity established under the laws of the United 
States, any State, or any political subdivision of any State, or under 
an interstate compact between two or more States, that exercises 
governmental authority on behalf of the United States or any such State 
or political subdivision.\10\
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    \8\ This is referred to in the regulations as ``FinCEN Form 
110.'' FinCEN has referred to its forms as ``reports'' since moving 
to electronic filing.
    \9\ 31 CFR 1020.315(c)(1) and (e)(6).
    \10\ 31 CFR 1020.315(c)(2)(A) and (B).
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    31 CFR 1020.315(d) requires a bank to review at least once annually 
the continued eligibility of an exempt person that is a (1) listed 
entity, (2) subsidiary of a listed entity, (3) non-listed business 
customer, or (4) payroll customer. As part of the annual review, a bank 
must also review the application to each existing account of a non-
listed business or payroll customer of the monitoring system that 31 
CFR 1020.315(h)(2) requires the bank to maintain (related to suspicious 
activity monitoring).
    Under 31 CFR 1020.315(e), a bank must take steps to assure itself 
that an exempt person meets the definition of that term (see 31 CFR 
1020.315(b), summarized above), document the basis for its conclusion, 
and document its compliance with the terms of the exemption, including 
the operating rules in 31 CFR 1020.315(e)(2)-(9). A bank must also take 
steps to document compliance with its suspicious activity monitoring 
obligations under 31 CFR 1020.315(h)(2). The steps that the bank takes 
under 31 CFR 1020.315(e) must be those that a reasonable and prudent 
bank would take and document to protect itself from fraud or loss based 
on misidentification of a person's status and, in the case of the 
suspicious activity monitoring obligations, to identify suspicious 
transactions.
    31 CFR 1020.315(h)(1) states that the CTR exemption rules do not 
relieve a bank of its obligation to report any suspicious transactions 
pursuant to 31 CFR 1020.320, including any suspicious transactions or 
attempted transactions in currency associated with the accounts of an 
exempt person, or relieve a bank of any other reporting or 
recordkeeping obligation imposed under the authority of the BSA.
    Under 31 CFR 1020.315(h)(2), a bank must establish and maintain a 
monitoring system that is reasonably designed to detect, for each 
account of a non-listed business or payroll customer, transactions in 
currency that would require a bank to file a suspicious activity report 
(SAR).

II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) \11\
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    \11\ Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).
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    Title: Transactions of Exempt Person (31 CFR 1020.315), and FinCEN 
Report 110--DOEP Report.
    OMB Control Number: 1506-0012.
    Report Number: FinCEN Report 110--DOEP Report.
    Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this notice to renew the OMB control 
number for the transactions of exempt person regulations and the DOEP 
Report.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit institutions, and 
non-profit institutions.

[[Page 6966]]

    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 ``supplemental annual PRA burden'').
    Frequency: As required.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,161 banks.\12\
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    \12\ According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 
((FDIC) there were 5,103 FDIC-insured banks as of March 31, 2020. 
According to the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), there were 203 other 
entities supervised by the FRB, as of June 16, 2020, that fall 
within the definition of bank (20 Edge Act institutions, 15 
agreement corporations (as defined in 12 CFR 28.2), and 168 foreign 
banking organizations). According to the National Credit Union 
Administration there were 5,236 federally regulated credit unions as 
of December 31, 2019). Approximately 297 state-chartered non-
depository trust companies, 228 non-federally insured credit unions, 
12 non-federally insured state-chartered banks and savings and loan 
or building and loan associations, 1 private bank, 29 international 
banking entities, and 52 international financial entities, all of 
which are required to implement written AML programs as a result of 
a final rule issued on September 15, 2020 (85 FR 57129), are also 
required to keep the records described in this notice.
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    Estimated Number of Responses: 18,141.\13\
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    \13\ Based on 2019 filings, FinCEN received 18,141 DOEP Reports.
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    Estimated Recordkeeping Burden:
    In Part 1 of this notice, FinCEN describes the breakdown of the 
estimated number of financial institutions, by type. In Part 2, FinCEN 
proposes for review and comment a renewal of the estimate of the 
traditional annual PRA hourly burden, which includes a scope and 
methodology similar to that used in the past, with the incorporation of 
a more robust cost estimate. The scope and methodology used in the past 
was limited to filling out, filing, and maintaining a copy of the DOEP 
Report filed. In Part 3, FinCEN proposes for review and comment a 
methodology to estimate a future estimate of a supplemental annual PRA 
burden that includes the burden and cost to a bank related to the 
regulatory requirements to: (1) Determine the initial eligibility of 
exempt persons, document the bank's basis for its conclusion, and 
document compliance with, inter alia, the operating rules set out in 
1020.315(e); (2) conduct an annual review to determine whether certain 
exempt persons remain eligible for the CTR exemption, and consistent 
with that review, to maintain a monitoring system to identify 
suspicious transactions associated with the accounts of non-listed 
business and payroll customers; and (3) establish and maintain a 
monitoring system reasonably designed to monitor currency transactions 
and report suspicious transactions pursuant to the bank's general 
obligation to report any suspicious transactions.\14\ Finally, in Part 
4, FinCEN solicits input from the public about: (1) The accuracy of the 
estimate of the traditional annual PRA burden; (2) the method proposed 
for the calculation of the future supplemental annual PRA burden; (3) 
the criteria, metrics, and most appropriate questions FinCEN should 
consider when researching the information to estimate the future 
traditional and supplemental annual PRA burden, according to the 
methodology proposed; and (4) any other comments about the regulations 
and the current and proposed future hourly burden and cost estimates of 
these requirements.
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    \14\ The burden associated with the CTR obligations is 
calculated under OMB control number 1506-0064. The burden associated 
with the SAR obligations is calculated under OMB Control Number 
1506-0065.
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Part 1--Breakdown of the Financial Institutions Covered by This Notice

    Banks are the only financial institutions covered by this notice. 
FinCEN estimates there are 11,161 banks.\15\
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    \15\ See supra note 10.
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Part 2--Traditional Annual PRA Burden And Cost

    The scope of the traditional annual PRA burden was limited to the 
annual burden of filling out, filing, and maintaining a record of the 
initial filed DOEP Report.
    FinCEN continues to estimate the annual hourly burden of the 
designation of exempt persons as one hour per form. This estimate 
covers the burden of: (1) 45 minutes to fill out and file the report; 
and (2) 15 minutes to save the report electronically and print out a 
copy to keep in hard-copy files. FinCEN believes that the information 
required to be included on the DOEP Report is basic information that 
banks need to maintain to conduct business. The e-filing system prompts 
banks to save the report after submission.
    FinCEN's estimate of the traditional annual PRA burden, therefore, 
is 18,141 hours, as detailed in Table 1 below:

                                        Table 1--Burden Associated With Completion and Maintenance of the Report
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                                                                               Time per form              Total burden hours per step
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                                                     Number of DOEP     Completion                                                         Grand total
           Type of financial institution             reports filed     (filling out     Maintenance       Completion                       burden hours
                                                        in 2019        and filing)       (minutes)       (filling out     Maintenance
                                                                        (minutes)                        and filing)
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Banks                                                       18,141               45               15        13,605.75         4,535.25      18,141 \16\
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    To calculate the hourly costs of the burden estimate, FinCEN 
identified three roles and corresponding staff positions involved in 
filling out, reviewing, filing, and maintaining a copy of the report: 
(1) General supervision (providing process oversight); (2) direct 
supervision (reviewing operational-level work, and cross-checking all 
or a sample of the work product against supporting documentation); and 
(3) clerical work (engaging in research and administrative review, 
completing the DOEP Report, and recordkeeping).
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    \16\ In the past PRA burden analysis, FinCEN estimated that the 
traditional burden to complete and file the DOEP Report for banks 
was 1 hour (45 minutes for completion of the form and 15 minutes for 
recordkeeping). (18,141 x .75 minutes = 13,605.75 burden hours for 
completion of the report) + (18,141 x .25 minutes = 4,535.25 burden 
hours for maintenance). The total hourly burden is 18,141 hours 
(13,605.75 + 4,535.25). Going forward this estimate will be 
different because it will account for the initial eligibility 
determination, filling out and filing the report, annual review, 
maintenance of records, maintenance of the monitoring system, and 
monitoring accounts to report suspicious transactions.
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    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

[[Page 6967]]

(BLS),\17\ and computing an additional benefits cost as follows:
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    \17\ 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 2--Fully-Loaded Hourly Wage by Role and BLS Job Position for All Banks 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 Manager..          $62.45            1.50          $93.68
Direct supervision..............    13-1041  Compliance Officer.           33.20            1.50           49.80
Clerical work (research, review,    43-3099  Financial Clerk....           20.40            1.50           30.60
 and recordkeeping).
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    FinCEN estimates that, in general and on average,\18\ each role 
would spend different amounts of time on each portion of the 
traditional annual PRA burden, as follows:
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    \18\ By ``in general,'' FinCEN means without regard to 
outliers). By ``on average,'' FinCEN means the mean of the 
distribution of each subset of the population.
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    For initial filing, the cost of each hour of burden would be one 
burden hour at $48.00 representing the actual completion and filing of 
the report broken down by each role as shown in Table 3 below:

                                         Table 3--Weighted Average Hourly Cost of Completion of the DOEP Report
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            General supervision                         Direct supervision                             Clerical work
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Weighted  average
       % Time              Hourly cost             % Time              Hourly cost             % Time              Hourly cost           hourly cost
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               10                 $9.37                    30                $14.94                    60                $18.36                $43.00
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$42.67 rounded to $43.00.

    The total estimated cost of the traditional annual PRA burden is 
$780,063, as reflected in Table 4 below:

                              Table 4--Total Cost of Traditional Annual PRA Burden
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                  Steps                          Hourly Burden          Hourly Cost           Total Cost
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Report completion (divided between the    13,605.75 \19\............     $43.00 \20\  $585,047.25
 roles listed in Table 3).
Maintenance/recordkeeping...............  4,535.25..................          $43.00  $195,015.75
    Total cost..........................  ..........................  ..............  $780,063
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Part 3--Supplemental Annual  PRA Burden

    In the future, FinCEN intends to add a supplemental annual PRA 
burden calculation that will include the estimated hourly burden and 
cost to: (1) Determine the initial eligibility of exempt persons, 
document the basis for the consideration, and document compliance with 
the DOEP reporting requirements; (2) conduct an annual review to 
determine whether certain exempt persons remain eligible for the CTR 
exemption, and, consistent with that review, to maintain a monitoring 
system to identify suspicious transactions associated with the accounts 
of non-listed business and payroll customers; and (3) identify 
suspicious transactions associated with accounts of non-listed business 
and payroll customers.
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    \19\ Table 1.
    \20\ Table 3.
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(a) Amended and Revoked Filings
    FinCEN assesses that the information required to be included on the 
DOEP Report is basic information banks need to maintain to conduct 
business. In addition, FinCEN's electronic filing (e-filing) system 
allows banks to open a filed electronic DOEP Report that is pre-
populated with the information from the prior filing. Banks can amend 
the status of an exempt person (including de facto revoking that 
status) by selecting Item 1.b (Amend) of the DOEP Report, and 
submitting the revised report electronically. The e-filing system 
prompts banks to save the report after submission.
(b) Annual Review
    As noted in Section I above, for all identified and reported 
designation of exempt persons, banks are required to establish and 
maintain a monitoring system designed to annually review the 
eligibility of a listed entity, a subsidiary of a listed entity, a non-
listed business customer, or a payroll customer to determine whether 
they remain eligible for the exemption from the banks' requirement to 
report transactions in currency of over $10,000. As part of the annual 
review, banks must also review the application of the monitoring 
system, required to be maintained under 31 CFR 1020.315(h)(2), to each 
existing account of a non-listed business or payroll customer.

[[Page 6968]]

    FinCEN does not have the necessary information to provide an 
estimate in this notice of the supplemental PRA hourly burden and cost 
associated with the annual review of eligibility of exempt persons, the 
operating rules set out in 31 CFR 1020.315(e), and the monitoring 
system required under 31 CFR 1020.315(h)(2). 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 supplemental 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 person 
(in the case of the DOEP Report, a bank) 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 person. 
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 activities a business (or other 
person) ordinarily undertakes if the government agency calculating 
the burden 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 (45 minutes to 
annually fill out and file the report, and fifteen minutes to maintain 
a record of the report).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,161,\22\ as set out above.
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    \22\ Although 11,109 banks were eligible to file DOEP Reports, 
only 2,133 banks filed DOEP Reports in 2019 and FinCEN received a 
total of 18,141 DOEP Reports. Of the 18,141 DOEP Reports received in 
2019, FinCEN received 9,464 initial reports, 4,444 amended reports, 
4,223 DOEP revoked reports, and 10 reports not classified as 
initial, amended, or revoked.
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    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 18,141, as set out above.
    Estimated Total Annual Recordkeeping Burden: The estimated total 
annual PRA burden is 18,141 hours, as set out in Table 1.
    Estimated Total Annual Recordkeeping Cost: The estimated total 
annual PRA cost is $780,063, as set out in Table 4.
    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: (1) FinCEN's assumptions underlying 
its burden estimate; (2) the estimated number of hours required by each 
portion of the burden; and (3) the organizational roles of the bank 
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 Proposed Criteria for 
Determining the Scope of a Supplemental Annual PRA Hourly Burden and 
Cost Estimate
    FinCEN invites comments on any aspect of the criteria for a future 
estimate of the supplemental annual PRA burden, as set out in Part 3 of 
this notice.
(c) Specific Request for Comments on the Appropriate Criteria, 
Methodology, and Questionnaire Required To Obtain Information To More 
Accurately Estimate the Supplemental Annual PRA Hourly Burden and Cost
    FinCEN invites comments on the most appropriate and comprehensive 
means to question banks about the annual hourly burden and cost 
attributable solely to comply with the DOEP reporting requirements 
(i.e., the hourly burden and cost of complying with the requirements 
imposed exclusively by the BSA, which are not used to satisfy other 
regulatory requirements or business purposes of a bank).
    The supplemental annual PRA hourly burden and cost estimate of the 
recordkeeping and reporting necessary to comply with the transactions 
of exempt persons regulations (determination of eligibility, 
maintenance of records, annual review, maintenance of monitoring 
system, and reporting of suspicious transactions) must take into 
consideration only the effort involved in obtaining those data elements 
that are used exclusively for complying with requirements under 31 CFR 
1020.315. Given the complexity in determining that effort and how to 
incorporate it into 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. 
While FinCEN has information on the number and type of DOEP Reports, 
FinCEN is unable to more accurately allocate the estimates among the 
number of banks. FinCEN welcomes any suggestions as to how to derive 
these estimates by using publicly available financial information.
(d) Specific Questions for Comment Associated With the Transactions of 
Exempt Persons Regulations and the DOEP Report:
(1) Determination of Exempt Person
    <bullet> On average, how many accounts does your bank maintain for 
which the account holder meets the definition of exempt person?
    <bullet> On average, how many accounts does your bank maintain that 
require a determination as to whether the accountholder meets the 
definition of exempt person?
    <bullet> On average, how many accounts does your bank maintain for 
which the account holder meets the definition of a listed business or 
is a subsidiary of a listed business?
    <bullet> On average, how many accounts does your bank maintain for 
which the account holders are non-listed businesses or payroll 
customers?
    <bullet> On average, how long does the review process take to 
determine if an accountholder is eligible for a designation of exempt 
person status?
    <bullet> On average, how long does the completion and filing of a 
DOEP Report take?
    <bullet> On average, how many employees, officers, or managers are 
responsible for determining the eligibility of exempt persons?
    <bullet> Which roles are typically more involved and how long does 
each role spend on determining the eligibility of exempt persons?
    <bullet> How many approvals are necessary to determine the 
eligibility of exempt persons? To finalize and submit the DOEP Report?
(2) Initial and Amended DOEP Reports
    <bullet> On average, how many initial DOEP Reports does your bank 
file on an annual basis?
    <bullet> On average, how long does it take your bank to complete an 
initial filing?
    <bullet> On average, how frequently does your bank amend a report?
    <bullet> On average, how long does it take your bank to amend a 
report, including

[[Page 6969]]

as a de facto method of revoking an exemption?
    <bullet> On average, how many employees are involved and how many 
approvals are necessary to complete an initial or amended filing?
    <bullet> Does your bank have a review and approval process 
involving senior management to evaluate the conclusions reached in the 
determination for eligibility of an exempt person?
    <bullet> Does your bank have a review and approval process 
involving senior management for amending or revoking the eligibility of 
an exempt person? On average, how long does the review process take and 
how many approvals are necessary?
(3) Annual Review
    <bullet> On average, how often does your bank review the 
eligibility of an exempt person?
    <bullet> On average, how many accounts where the accountholder is 
an exempt person does your bank review at least annually?
    <bullet> Does your bank maintain a monitoring system to comply with 
the DOEP reporting requirements?
    <bullet> Does your bank review the monitoring system at least once 
a year?
    <bullet> On average, how long does it take to review the monitoring 
system and how many approvals are necessary?
    <bullet> Does your bank maintain records of the annual review?
    <bullet> On average, how long does it take to prepare and maintain 
records of the review?
    <bullet> Does your bank have a review and approval process 
involving senior management to evaluate the conclusions reached in the 
annual review of eligibility?
    <bullet> On average, how long does the annual review process take 
and how many approvals are necessary?
(4) Monitoring System
    <bullet> Does your bank maintain a separate monitoring system to 
track designation of exempt persons for reasons other than to comply 
with the reporting requirements under 31 CFR 1020.315?
    <bullet> Does your bank maintain a separate monitoring system to 
identify suspicious activity associated with the accounts of designated 
exempt persons?
    <bullet> Does your bank have a review and approval process 
involving senior management to evaluate the conclusions reached in the 
determination of whether a SAR must be filed for an exempt account? 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: (1) 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; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the collection of information; (3) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (4) 
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 5) estimates 
of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and 
purchase of services to provide information.

Kenneth A. Blanco,
Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2021-01451 Filed 1-22-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-02-P


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