Federal Reserve Proposes Updates to Anti-Money Laundering Program Requirements

The Federal Reserve recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to modernize and strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) program requirements for supervised banks. The proposal would align the Board’s rules with recent proposals from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and other federal banking agencies (see prior WBK coverage). By harmonizing these standards, the Board aims to ensure banks maintain robust, risk-based programs to identify, assess, and mitigate illicit finance risks and produce more “highly useful” information for law enforcement and national security agencies.

The proposed amendments focus on ensuring that AML program components, including internal policies, procedures, controls, and independent audit functions, remain consistent with the statutory goals of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) as updated by the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.

The Board is inviting public comment on these proposed changes. Comments must be submitted on or before September 5, 2026. Submissions should reference Docket No. R-1835 and RIN 7100-AG78 and can be made through the Federal Reserve’s official proposal portal, via email at publiccomments@frb.gov, or by mail as outlined in the proposal.