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ARTICLE · 14 JANUARY 2021

U.S. Passes Historic BSA/AML Legislative Change

Ballard Spahr LLP
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Change is upon us. The U.S. House and Senate have passed – over a Presidential veto – the National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA"), a massive annual defense spending bill.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
Peter D. Hardy
Peter D. Hardy
Beth Moskow-Schnoll
Beth Moskow-Schnoll
Alexa L. Levy
Alexa L. Levy
Terence M. Grugan
Terence M. Grugan
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Covered Companies Must Report Beneficial Ownership to National Database Upon Incorporation

First Blog Post in an Extended Series on Legislative Changes to BSA/AML Regulatory Regime

Change is upon us. The U.S. House and Senate have passed - over a Presidential veto - the National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA"), a massive annual defense spending bill. As we have blogged, this bill, now law, contains historic changes to the Bank Secrecy Act ("BSA"), coupled with other changes relating to money laundering, anti-money laundering ("AML"), counter-terrorism financing ("CTF") and protecting the U.S. financial system against illicit foreign actors. This sweeping legislation will affect financial institutions, their clients, and law enforcement and regulators for many years. This will be the first post of many on these important legislative changes, which should produce related regulatory pronouncements throughout 2021.

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