Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

Program Summary by Budget Activity 

(Dollars in thousands) 

FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 Appropriation Enacted Enacted Request $ Change % Change

Salaries and Expenses $90,098 $91,465 $102,760 $11,295 12.3%

 BSA Administration and Analysis $76,889 $82,287 $93,444 $11,157 13.6%

 Regulatory Support Programs $8,955 $9,178 $9,316 $138 1.5%

Subtotal, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network $85,844 $91,465 $102,760 $11,295 12.3%

Offsetting Collections - Reimbursables $1,541 $6,000 $3,000 $-3,000 -50%

Total Program Operating Level $91,639 $97,465 $105,760 $8,295 8.5%

Explanation of Request 

 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

(FinCEN) FY 2010 President’s Budget request 

includes funding to strengthen its capability to 

safeguard the nation’s financial system from 

the abuses of financial crime, including 

terrorist financing, money laundering, and 

other illicit activity. Specifically, the funding 

request maintains current operating levels, and 

initiates modernization of Bank Secrecy Act 

(BSA) information management and analysis. 

Total resources required to support FinCEN 

activities for FY 2010 are $105,760,000 

including $3,000,000 from offsetting 

collections and reimbursable agreements. 

Purpose of Program 

 

The mission of FinCEN, a bureau within 

Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial 

Intelligence, is to enhance U.S. national 

security, deter and detect criminal activity, and 

safeguard financial systems from abuse by 

promoting transparency in the U.S. and 

international financial systems. FinCEN 

fulfills its mission, goals and priorities by: 

administering the BSA; supporting law 

enforcement, intelligence, and regulatory 

agencies through sharing and analysis of 

financial intelligence; enhancing international 

anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist 

financing efforts and cooperation; and 

networking people, entities, ideas, and 

information. 

FinCEN FY 2010 Budget Highlights

(Dollars in thousands) 

Appropriation Amount

FY 2009 Enacted 91,465

Changes to Base: 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs): $1,295

Across the Board Program Reduction (453)

Non-Pay Inflation Adjustment 495

Pay Annualization 419

Pay Inflation Adjustment 834

Subtotal FY 2010 Changes to Base $1,295

Total FY 2010 Base 92,760

Program Changes: 

Program Increases: $10,000

Implement Information Technology 10,000

Modernization 

Subtotal FY 2010 Program Changes $10,000

Total FY 2010 President's Budget Request 102,760

FY 2010 Budget Adjustments 

 

FY 2009 Enacted 

The FY 2009 enacted direct appropriation for 

FinCEN is $91,465,000. 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs) 

Adjustments Necessary to Maintain 

Current Levels +$1,295,000 / +0 FTE Funds 

are requested for: Across the Board Program 

Reduction of $453,000; FY 2010 cost of the 

January 2009 pay increase of $419,000; 

proposed January 2010 pay raise of $834,000; 

and non-labor related items such as contracts, 

travel, supplies, equipment and GSA rent 

adjustments of $495,000. 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 37
Program Increases 

Implement Information Technology 

Modernization +$10,000,000 / +1 FTE The 

request supports a subset of efforts FinCEN 

has identified to modernize the BSA technical 

environment. This effort will begin to enrich 

and standardize BSA data to maximize value, 

integrate data with other state and federal 

sources, deploy advanced analytical and 

storage technologies, and establish more 

effective security and audit technologies to 

enhance data confidentiality and integrity. 

Explanation of Budget Activities 

 

Salaries and Expenses 

BSA Administration and Analysis 

($93,444,000 from direct appropriations 

and $3,000,000 from reimbursable 

programs) This activity comprises FinCEN’s 

efforts to administer the BSA, including 

promulgating regulations, providing outreach 

and issuing guidance to the regulated 

industries, providing oversight of BSA 

compliance, initiating enforcement actions, 

and, with the IRS, managing the information 

filed by the regulated industries, as well as 

analytic activities. Internationally, FinCEN 

promotes the development of anti-money 

laundering regimes through training and 

technical assistance. Analytical programs 

include support to U.S. law enforcement and 

international FIUs in combating financial 

crime by facilitating the exchange of 

investigative information; identifying foreign 

and domestic money laundering and terrorist 

financing trends, patterns, and techniques; and 

liaison with and support of intelligence 

initiatives within the intelligence community 

and within Treasury. This activity also 

incorporates efforts to support large-scale, 

complex law enforcement investigations 

involving terrorist financing, money 

laundering, and other financial crimes. 

Regulatory Support Programs ($9,316,000 

from direct appropriations) This activity 

supports implementation, strengthening and 

clarification of the programmatic (anti-money 

laundering, Customer Identification Program, 

and suspicious activity reporting), 

recordkeeping, and reporting requirements of 

the BSA for financial institutions subject to 

those requirements. FinCEN will continue 

efforts with the IRS, especially related to the 

money services business (MSB) industry to 

ensure compliance, respond to public 

inquiries, distribute forms and publications, 

and support collection and maintenance of 

BSA information. This may include 

enhancing the capability to correct identified 

data quality issues, enhance electronic filing, 

potentially explore overall forms design, and 

other related enhancements to the BSA 

collection and dissemination systems. These 

resources also fund IRS BSA compliance 

activities for non-bank financial institutions, 

especially related to the MSB industry. 

Legislative Proposals 

 

FinCEN does not have any legislative 

proposals for FY 2010. 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 38
FinCEN Performance by Budget Activity 

FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010

Budget Activity Performance Measure Actual Actual Actual Target 

Met? Target Target

BSA Percentage of customers satisfied with 

Administration and the BSA E-Filing (%) (Ot) 

Analysis 

92 94 93 Yes 90 90 

BSA Percentage of FinCEN's Regulatory 

Administration and Resource Center customers rating the 

Analysis guidance received as understandable 

(%) (Ot) 

94 91 94 Yes 90 90 

BSA The percentage of domestic law 

Administration and enforcement and foreign financial 

Analysis intelligence units finding FinCEN's 

analytical reports highly valuable (%) 

(Oe) 

77 82 83 Yes 80 80 

BSA Average time to process enforcement 

Administration and matters (in years) (E) 

Analysis 

1 1.1 0.7 Yes 1 1 

Key: Oe - Outcome Measure, E - Efficiency Measure, Ot - Output/Workload Measure, and M - Management/Cust. 

Satisfaction 

Description of Performance 

 

In the regulatory area, FinCEN’s goal to 

provide financial institutions with 

understandable guidance is critical to 

institutions establishing anti-money 

laundering programs that comply 

appropriately with the BSA. FinCEN’s FY 

2008 goal was to maintain a 90 percent 

satisfaction level and it surpassed the target 

with 94 percent of customers rating the 

guidance received as “understandable.” 

FinCEN also works closely with its 

regulatory partners to take enforcement 

action against financial institutions that 

systemically and egregiously violate the 

provisions of the BSA, including through 

imposition of civil money penalties when 

appropriate. Timely enforcement action is 

essential to deter non-compliance with the 

BSA. In FY 2008, FinCEN surpassed its 

target of an average time to process 

enforcement matters of 1.0 years with an 

average time of 0.7 years. 

In the analytical area, FinCEN supports 

domestic law enforcement and international 

Foreign Intelligence Unit (FIU) partners by 

both providing analyses of BSA 

information, and measuring the percentage 

of customers finding FinCEN’s analytical 

reports highly valuable. The measure 

closely ties to how BSA information is used 

by both law enforcement and international 

FIUs to identify, investigate, and prevent 

abuse of the financial system. In FY 2008, 

FinCEN surpassed its target of 79 percent 

with 83 percent of its customers finding the 

analytic products highly valuable. 

For the efficient management, safeguarding, 

and use of BSA information, FinCEN 

conducts a survey of the users of the BSA EFiling system to determine the overall 

satisfaction level and to identify where 

improvements are needed. The FY 2008 

target was to maintain at least a 90 percent 

satisfaction level, and FinCEN surpassed its 

target with 93 percent. 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 39