U.S. Department of the Treasury’s FinCEN to delay investment adviser AML rule effective date to 2028 and revisit scope

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced it intends to postpone the effective date of its final rule establishing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) program and suspicious activity report (SAR) filing requirements for registered investment advisers and exempt reporting advisers, and to revisit the rule’s scope. FinCEN anticipates delaying the effective date from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028. The IA AML Rule is intended to address illicit finance risks and vulnerabilities associated with criminals and foreign adversaries exploiting the U.S. financial system through investment advisers, but FinCEN indicated the framework needs to be better tailored to the sector’s diverse business models and risk profiles. Extending the effective date is also intended to ease potential compliance costs and reduce regulatory uncertainty while a broader review is undertaken. FinCEN will use a rulemaking process to extend the effective date and plans to issue exemptive relief to delay implementation in the interim. During the postponement, it intends to revisit the substance of the IA AML Rule through a future rulemaking and, together with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to revisit the joint proposed customer identification program requirements for investment advisers.