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BOARD OF GOVERNORS

OF THE

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20551

DIVISION OF SUPERVISION

AND REGULATION

SR 23-11

December 21, 2023

TO THE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF SUPERVISION

 AT EACH FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

SUBJECT: Interagency Statement for Banks on the Issuance of the Beneficial Ownership 

Information Access Rule

Applicability: This letter is relevant to banking organizations supervised by the Federal Reserve 

that are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the National Credit Union 

Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, the agencies) are 

issuing an interagency statement to clarify banking organizations’ obligations following the 

issuance of FinCEN’s final rule regarding access by authorized recipients to beneficial 

ownership information (BOI) that will be reported to FinCEN (the “Access Rule”), pursuant to 

section 6403 of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). 

The interagency statement clarifies that the issuance of the Access Rule does not create a 

new regulatory requirement for banking organizations to access BOI from FinCEN’s Beneficial 

Ownership Information Technology (BO IT) System or a supervisory expectation that they do 

so. Therefore, the Access Rule does not necessitate changes to Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/antimoney laundering (AML) compliance programs designed to comply with the existing Customer 

Due Diligence rule and other existing BSA requirements, such as customer identification 

program requirements and suspicious activity reporting. However, any access to and use of BOI 

obtained from the BO IT System must comply with the requirements of the CTA and the Access 

Rule.

Reserve Banks are asked to distribute this letter to the supervised banking organizations 

in their districts and to appropriate supervisory staff. In addition, banking organizations may 

send questions via the Board’s public website.1

1 See http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/contactus/feedback.aspx
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Michael S. Gibson

Director

Attachment:

• Interagency Statement for Banks on the Issuance of the Beneficial Ownership Information 

Access Rule
1

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

National Credit Union Administration 

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency 

State Bank and Credit Union Regulators

Interagency Statement for Banks on the Issuance of the 

Beneficial Ownership Information Access Rule

December 21, 2023

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has 

issued a final rule (the “Access Rule”) regarding access by authorized recipients to beneficial 

ownership information (BOI) that will be reported to FinCEN, pursuant to section 6403 of 

the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), and stored in the Beneficial Ownership Information 

Technology (BO IT) System.1

 Financial institutions subject to customer due diligence 

requirements, including banks,2

 are one category of authorized recipients of BOI. FinCEN, 

the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency, and State bank and credit union regulators are issuing this statement to provide 

clarity for banks on the Access Rule. 

The Access Rule does not create a new regulatory requirement for banks to access BOI 

from the BO IT System or a supervisory expectation that they do so. Therefore, the Access 

Rule does not necessitate changes to Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/anti-money laundering (AML) 

compliance programs designed to comply with the existing Customer Due Diligence 

rule (the “current CDD Rule”)3

 and other existing BSA requirements, such as customer 

identification program requirements4

 and suspicious activity reporting.5 However, 

any access to and use of BOI obtained from the BO IT System must comply with the 

requirements of the CTA and the Access Rule. 

1. FinCEN, Beneficial Ownership Information Access and Safeguards, available at https://www.federalregister.

gov/public-inspection/2023-27973/beneficial-ownership-information-access-and-safeguardsster :: Public 

Inspection: Beneficial Ownership Information Access and Safeguards. The regulations will be codified at 31 

CFR § 1010.955. The CTA was enacted into law as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AML 

Act”), which was enacted as Division F, §§ 6001-6511, of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, H.R. 6395, 116th Cong. (2021) (enrolled bill available at https://www.

govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hr6395enr/pdf/BILLS-116hr6395enr.pdf).

2. The term “bank” used here is as defined in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regulations at 31 CFR 1010.100(d) and 

includes each agent, agency, branch, or office within the United States of banks, credit unions, savings 

associations, and foreign banks. See also 31 CFR 1010.605(e)(1)(i). 

3. 31 CFR 1010.230, 81 FR 29398 (May 11, 2016).

4. 31 CFR 1020.220.

5. 31 CFR 1020.320.
2

To date, FinCEN has issued two rules—and will be issuing a third rule—to implement 

the CTA. The first rule regarding the reporting of BOI to FinCEN (the “Reporting Rule”) 

was issued on September 30, 2022.6

 The second rule is the Access Rule, which governs 

access to and use of BOI. The third rule, which has not yet been proposed, will revise the 

current CDD Rule. In particular, the CTA directs FinCEN to revise the current CDD Rule 

to: (i) bring it into conformity with the AML Act of 2020, including the CTA; (ii) account for 

financial institutions’ access to BOI reported to FinCEN so financial institutions may confirm 

BOI provided directly to them for the purpose of facilitating their compliance with AML, 

countering the financing of terrorism, and customer due diligence requirements; and (iii) 

reduce any burdens on financial institutions and legal entity customers that are, in light of 

the CTA, unnecessary or duplicative.7

6. FinCEN, Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements, 87 FR 59498 (Sept. 30, 2022), available at https://

www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/30/2022-21020/beneficial-ownership-information-reportingrequirements.

7. CTA, Section 6403(d)(1)(A)-(C).