FinCEN SAR Activity Review, Trends, Tips & Issues, Issue 10

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increase occurs is treated as the first year of a new (initial) two-calendar
year registration period. Such re-registration initiates a new calculation for
determining renewal deadlines, just as an initial registration period does for
calculating subsequent renewal deadlines.
De-registration and Ceasing to be a Money
Services Business
There is currently no provision in the BSA regulations or procedures to allow
an MSB to de-register even if the business is no longer providing services
that require registration as an MSB. At the present time, the only option
for an entity that has ceased to operate as an MSB, or that has registered
incorrectly, is to refrain from renewing its registration. If the entity does not
renew its registration, after the two-year renewal deadline has passed and we
determine that the business is no longer currently registered we will omit the
business from the posted MSB Registration List.
The date upon which an entity implements (not merely adopts) written policies
and procedures that would exclude it from the definition of MSB is the effective
date upon which the business ceases to be an MSB. For example, a check
casher that registered as an MSB because it cashed checks at a level that met
the regulatory definition (i.e., in an amount greater than $1,000 in currency
or monetary or other instruments for any person on any day in one or more
transactions), but has subsequently implemented written policies and procedures
to no longer offer check cashing services that reach the $1,000 definitional
threshold for a check casher, has ceased to be an MSB. This is the case even if
the business continued to cash checks, provided that it does not cash checks in
an amount that triggers the definitional threshold for an MSB. (See FinCEN
Ruling 2005-3.) Such a business should not renew its registration when it
expires. Moreover, other entities are no longer required to continue treating an
entity that has ceased to meet the definition of an MSB as an MSB customer.
For additional guidance on MSB registration requirements, please call
FinCEN’s Regulatory Helpline at (800) 949-2732 or visit FinCEN’s website at
www.msb.gov.
Grand Jury Subpoenas and Suspicious
Activity Reporting
In an effort to improve the consistency and quality of information being
reported in SARs, and to guide financial institutions on compliance
with suspicious activity reporting requirements, FinCEN is issuing this