The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 became law early in 2021, after a congressional override of then-President Trump’s veto. Division F of the NDAA consists of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”). The AMLA expands numerous Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) requirements, and FinCEN has continued to issue guidance, reports, and proposed regulations since our prior blog post summarizing developments during the first sixth months following AMLA’s passage. The following is a summary of additional AMLA developments that occurred during the second half of 2021.
On December 6, 2021, the White House (the “WH”) released the first 
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury recently published sanctions compliance 
On October 18, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) released the findings from its review of the economic sanctions administered and enforced by its Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). During the review, Treasury met with individuals representing hundreds of sanctions stakeholders, including Members of Congress and their staffs, the private sector, foreign governments, and Treasury’s sanctions workforce. The review—headed by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo—focused on two primary issues: (1) the framework guiding the imposition of U.S. sanctions; and (2) potential operational, structural, and procedural changes to improve Treasury’s ability to use sanctions now and in the future. The report and its recommendations aim to preserve the efficacy of U.S. sanctions in confronting perceived foreign policy and national security threats to the U.S. by “modernizing” their implementation through:
On August 22, 2021, at the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Courts announced the establishment of a specialized new court that will focus on combating money laundering. The announcement comes just months after the UAE Cabinet approved the establishment of the Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
On June 7, 2021, the UAE Central Bank issued new guidance requiring all UAE financial institutions to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) or suspicious transaction reports (STRs) with the UAE’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) using the goAML portal within 35 calendar days of detection of any conduct that they reasonably suspect may be linked to money laundering, terror financing, or other criminal activity. By the end of the first 20 calendar days, a case investigator must have analyzed the alert or other indicator of suspicion, conducted any further investigation that may be necessary, and made an internal recommendation to the MLRO as to whether an SAR/STR filing is warranted. Also within those first 20 calendar days, the MLRO must have reviewed the case report, considered the recommendation, and finally dispositioned the alert or activity one way or the other. By the end of a further 15 calendar days, the MLRO must have filed an SAR/STR with the FIU in respect of anything determined to be suspicious. Note that these are maximum timeframes and UAE financial institutions are ultimately responsible under the local AML/CFT Law to report suspicious activity “without delay.”
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (“NDAA”) became law earlier this year, after a congressional override of then-President Trump’s veto. Division F of the NDAA consists of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”). The AMLA expands numerous Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) requirements, and FinCEN has been active in the first sixth months of the AMLA’s passage in issuing guidance, reports, and proposed regulations.
