Compliance & Standards
FinCEN Final Rule: Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirement Revision
A FinCEN final rule, submitted to the Federal Register for publication, permanently adopting with limited expansions the March 26, 2025 interim final rule that narrowed beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act. The rule exempts domestic reporting companies from any BOI reporting; exempts foreign reporting companies from reporting BOI of U.S.-person beneficial owners and, in an expansion beyond the IFR, U.S.-person company applicants; revises the foreign pooled investment vehicle special rule to exempt U.S. persons exercising substantial control; and eliminates the requirement for U.S. persons to update information provided to obtain a FinCEN ID. The preamble recounts litigation that enjoined CTA enforcement in 2024-2025, Treasury's March 2025 enforcement suspension against US citizens and domestic companies, and Executive Order 14192 on deregulation. Of 118 comments on the IFR, 40 supported narrowing, 28 opposed, 50 neutral. FinCEN defends the approach as consistent with the CTA's statutory 'minimize burden' directive while retaining reporting by foreign entities registered in the US.
Raf's lens
This is regulatory whiplash. An AML statute has been narrowed through exemption authority until the federal register is mainly focused on foreign-owned entities, following litigation and an executive order. Banks will still need to identify customers and beneficial owners, but they can rely less on a broad federal database. More of the KYB burden returns to their own controls.
Topics: FinCEN, Corporate Transparency Act, beneficial ownership information, BOI reporting, foreign reporting companies, interim final rule, Executive Order 14192, regulatory burden