Pursuit's Take
This report presents the result of our audit of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) activities related to money services businesses (MSBs). FinCEN has responsibility for administering the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and safeguarding the financial system from financial crime, including terrorist financing, money laundering, and other illicit activities.
FinCEN continued to take actions to improve MSB compliance with BSA but challenges remain. Issues in the MSB registration program require FinCEN’s continued attention. These issues include (1) the completeness and reliability of MSB registration data and (2) the maintenance of the MSB registration list. OIG found that the MSB registration data contains duplicate entries, expired registrations, and other anomalies. We note that FinCEN is not required to validate registration data provided.