The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a new order that provides relief to certain financial institutions under its 2016 Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Rule.

FinCEN’s new order removes the requirement to collect and verify beneficial ownership information each time an existing legal entity customer opens a new account.

Instead, financial institutions now need to identify and verify beneficial owners only in the following situations:

• When a legal entity customer opens its first account with the institution
• When the institution becomes aware of information that raises concerns about the accuracy or reliability of previously collected beneficial ownership information
• When required under the institution’s risk-based procedures for ongoing customer due diligence

FinCen reminds financial institutions that they must comply with all other applicable requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act, including ongoing monitoring to identify and report suspicious transactions, and maintaining and updating customer information as needed, based on risk.