FinCEN relaxes certain beneficial owner requirements
February 17, 2026 / By ICBA
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced it is relaxing parts of its 2016 rule that requires covered financial institutions to identify an entity’s beneficial owners each time the entity opens an account.
Details: FinCEN said a covered financial institution is now only required to identify and verify the beneficial owners of a legal entity customer:
When a legal entity customer first opens an account with the institution.
When the institution has knowledge of facts that reasonably call into question the reliability of previously obtained beneficial ownership information.
As otherwise required based on the institution’s risk-based procedures for ongoing customer due diligence.
ICBA View: ICBA has consistently called on FinCEN to amend its customer due diligence rules and withdraw its requirement that banks collect beneficial ownership information, including in a congressional statement last year.
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