AML Laws in the USA
United States anti-money-laundering law is built on the Bank Secrecy Act, extended significantly by the USA PATRIOT Act and modernised again by the Anti-Money Laundering Act. FinCEN administers the regime; banking regulators, the SEC, the CFTC and the IRS examine for compliance within their own sectors.
The core obligations
- A written AML programme with the long-standing pillars: internal controls, an independent audit, a designated compliance officer and training, plus risk-based customer due diligence
- Customer identification and verification at onboarding
- Suspicious activity reports and currency transaction reports filed to FinCEN
- Recordkeeping and travel-rule information on funds transfers
- Sanctions screening under OFAC, a separate regime that operates on strict liability
Beneficial ownership reporting
The Corporate Transparency Act introduced federal beneficial-ownership reporting for many entities, addressing a long-standing criticism that US company formation was among the least transparent in the developed world. Its scope and application have been the subject of litigation and of changes in reporting requirements, and firms should confirm the position currently in force rather than rely on earlier guidance.
Enforcement posture
US enforcement is distinctive in three respects: penalties are large enough to be strategically significant, resolutions frequently impose independent monitors and remediation obligations, and individual accountability for compliance officers and executives is pursued more often than in most jurisdictions. Extraterritorial reach through correspondent banking and dollar clearing means non-US institutions are regularly within scope.
What this means in practice
Any institution touching the dollar clearing system should assume US exposure. Sanctions screening deserves particular attention: unlike most AML obligations it does not turn on reasonableness, and a control gap can produce liability without any finding of intent.