The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) stated on Jul. 21 that it plans to delay the effective date of a rule that brings certain investment advisers under its anti-money-laundering and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism (AML/CFT) programs' standards. According to the Journal of Accountancy, the regulator is currently reassessing the rule. 

FinCEN stated it would reexamine the rule's scope that established the AML/CFT program and Suspicious Activity Report Filing Requirements for Registered Investment Advisers and Exempt Reporting Advisers (FINCEN-2024-0006 and RIN 1506-AB58). The agency expects to postpone for two years the rule’s effective date to Jan. 1, 2028 instead of Jan. 1, 2026.

According to the Journal, an AICPA comment letter on the proposed rule sent in April 2024 stated its worries about the burden the requirements can impose on small registered investment advisers (RIAs). A firm that has less than 20 employees would find it hard to  “comfortably absorb” the requirements, the letter stated. Additionally, the letter recommended that thresholds be based on average assets under management for every client.

The final rule did not consider the number of employees that a firm has, but only took into account its total AUM.

The rule, which FinCEN had projected will be impacting 212 RIAs, was created to combat against illicit finance risks, threats, and vulnerabilities posed by criminals and foreign adversaries that exploit the U.S. financial system and assets via investment advisers, according to a FinCEN news release.