Prohibition on Correspondent Accounts for Foreign Shell Banks; Records Concerning Owners of Foreign Banks and Agents for Service of Legal Process
Extension without change of a currently approved collection
No
Regular
Approved without change
09/17/2025
07/31/2025
table that charts list comparision
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
09/30/2028
36 Months From Approved
09/30/2025
18,408
0
17,392
73,632
0
260,880
0
0
0
31 U.S.C. 5318(j) prohibits a covered financial institution from maintaining correspondent accounts in the United States for, or on behalf of, foreign banks that do not have a physical presence in any country. In addition, under 31 U.S.C. 5318(k), a covered financial institution maintaining a correspondent account in the United States for a foreign bank, must retain records identifying: (i) the owners of record and the beneficial owners of the foreign bank, and (ii) the name and address of a person residing in the United States who is authorized to accept service of legal process for the foreign bank. The covered financial institution must provide the information to any Federal law enforcement officer who has submitted a written request for such information, not later than 7 days after receipt of the request. The regulations implementing 31 U.S.C. 5318(j) and 31 U.S.C. 5318(k) appear at 31 CFR 1010.630.
The estimated total annual burden hours decreased by 187,248 hours, from 260,880 hours in 2022 to 73,632 hours in 2025. As a result, the corresponding estimated total cost decreased by $16,208,640, from $25,044,480 to $8,835,840. These changes reflect adjustments in FinCENâs methodological approach to its estimates which include: (1) a reduction in the number of expected respondents, (2) an increase in the number of expected responses per respondent, and (3) a decrease in the assigned incremental burden per response. This decrease is due to FinCEN incorporating additional data into the 2025 renewal.
When FinCEN renewed this information collection request, under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number 1506-0043, in 2022, FinCEN estimated that 8,696 covered financial institutions would obtain and maintain 17,392 certification and recertification forms from foreign banks, and estimated the burden per certification/recertification form would be 15 hours per form. Due to the lack of data on the likely number of foreign correspondent accounts in 2022, FinCEN applied a conservative estimate of the hourly burden for certification and recertification in order to avoid underestimating the total burden. However, FinCEN has updated its estimation methodology and believes the updated estimate (including the hourly burden for certification and recertification) to be a more accurate reflection of the cost profile associated with this requirement. Most U.S. banks do not maintain foreign correspondent accounts, and those that do, generally maintain more than one such account. In 2025, FinCEN updated its estimation methodology, estimating that both the time required to conduct a certification process and maintain its associated recordkeeping requirement would be 4 hours. The same 4-hour estimate was applied to both the time required to conduct to the recertification process and maintain its corresponding recordkeeping requirement.
The reduction in burden is the result of a combination of a decrease in the estimated number of likely respondents and a decrease in the estimated hourly burden of certification and recertification. Although the estimate of the average number of accounts per respondent was revised significantly upwards, a reduction in these two factors (i.e., the likely respondents and the hourly certification/recertification burden) resulted in a decrease to the overall burden.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
CERTIFICATION REGARDING CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNTS FOR FOREIGN BANKS
1506-0043 Shell Bank Supporting Statement 7_31_2025 FINAL.docx
FINCEN-2025-0005-comment 7.pdf
Obtain and record a recertification per foreign bank