FinCEN updates fraud information-sharing guidance for U.S. financial institutions

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FinCEN fraud sharing guidance update

Highlights

FinCEN issued updated guidance allowing U.S. financial institutions to share suspected fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing data under section 314(b).
The new guidance clarifies that institutions may share information such as video footage, IP addresses, and fraud indicators like unusual payee patterns and distant logins.
Treasury positions the enhanced 314(b) rules as strengthening national security and enabling more targeted, risk-based anti-money laundering compliance efforts.

Updated rules for fraud data sharing

As reported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, has issued updated guidance explaining that financial institutions may share information on suspected fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, and other specified unlawful activities with other eligible participants in the section 314(b) program.

The guidance states that institutions can use the program to help identify illicit financial activity and includes examples of shareable material tied to fraud and other crimes. Those examples include video surveillance footage, cyber-related information such as IP addresses, and indicators including newly added payees followed by large transfers, multiple accounts with the same or similar identifying information, and login activity from geographically distant locations.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says financial institutions are often the first to detect suspicious activity in real time and need tools that let them act quickly before fraud spreads further. FinCEN also strongly encourages firms to share information related to fraud and other financial crimes through the program.

Broader compliance and security impact

The update fits into Treasury's wider effort to strengthen fraud prevention across government as part of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which is led by Vice President JD Vance. Treasury says information sharing among financial institutions is vital to combating fraud and other financial crimes across the U.S. financial system.

FinCEN says the section 314(b) framework also supports U.S. national and economic security and remains a key part of Treasury's work with federal banking agencies to modernize the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regime. That effort is intended to make compliance more risk-based and outcomes-focused, while allowing financial institutions to direct more resources toward higher-risk customers and activities rather than lower-risk ones.

Treasury has also published a fact sheet on section 314(b) and provides a registration process for financial institutions seeking to share fraud-related information under the program.

Our earlier article on unemployment insurance fraud highlighted growing federal scrutiny of state benefit systems as senators criticized several governors over high improper payment rates and weak controls. The report detailed how these vulnerabilities can enable criminals to divert taxpayer money—sometimes overseas—while disrupting legitimate claims, and noted the expansion of a broader congressional fraud task force and oversight push.

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