FinCen and FinCrime -- Who are they and how are they different?
By: Judi M. Stork, Deputy Bank Commissioner
I had a conversation with a banker recently who asked about the difference between the FinCEN and FinCrime entities. I thought it might be a good opportunity to write an article and review each entity, how they function, and the role they play in financial crimes reporting.
FinCEN
As reflected in its name, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a network; a link between the law enforcement, financial, and regulatory communities. Because the changing financial world creates vast opportunities for criminals, FinCEN works with domestic and international partners to maximize the information sharing network and find new ways to prevent and detect financial crime. It was created in 1990 and is a division of the United States Department of Treasury. The organization consists of approximately 200 employees, the majority of which are intelligence professionals, specialists from the financial industry, and technology experts. In addition, 20 different law enforcement and regulatory agencies have provided 40 long term detailees to FinCEN. FinCEN provides intelligence and analytical support to more than 150 federal, state, local and international law enforcement agencies to support financial criminal investigations. FinCEN uses anti-money laundering laws, such as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), to require reporting and recordkeeping by banks and other financial institutions. This recordkeeping preserves a financial trail for investigators to follow as they track criminals and their assets. The BSA also requires reporting suspicious currency transactions which could trigger investigations. FinCEN establishes these policies and regulations to deter and detect money laundering in partnership with the financial community. FinCEN also provides intelligence and analytical support to law enforcement. FinCEN's work is concentrated on combining information reported under the BSA with other government and public information. This information is then disclosed to FinCEN's customers in the law enforcement community in the form of intelligence reports. These reports help them build investigations and plan new strategies to combat money laundering.
FinCrime
FinCrime is sponsored by the state bankers' associations in Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. It is open to their member financial institutions and law enforcement. The concept of FinCrime is to form an information sharing network between banks and law enforcement. FinCrime allows information regarding financial crimes to be entered into a database and then distributed to interested participants in the network. Sharing information allows banks to detect and prevent fraud, improves law enforcements' ability to investigate financial crimes and leads to enhanced prosecution. FinCrime can be used by any law enforcement agency, or financial institution. All users must be authenticated and approved by the network administrator or one of the sponsoring associations. FinCrime information has led to arrests, and has aided law enforcement in tying together crimes that occurred in multiple jurisdictions. Many banks have reported that they have avoided losses due to information that has been posted on FinCrime.
As you can see, both entities are information gathering organizations designed to deter and/or stop financial crime as well as provide that information to those who share the same goal. However, FinCrime is an entirely voluntary group sponsored by bankers whereas FinCEN is a government entity and has mandatory requirements for the filing of certain information by banks. I took all of the information for this article from each entity's website. You might find it beneficial to further explore these websites for additional information on financial crimes reporting, the Bank Secrecy Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and other financial crimes information. They can be found at www.fincen.gov and www.fincrime.com.
