Requirement for Information
Sharing Between Government Agencies and Financial Institutions
("314(a)")
Extension without change of a currently approved collection
No
Regular
12/23/2025
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
12/31/2025
12,726
14,960
555,702
2,917,200
0
0
The USA PATRIOT Act charged the
Department of the Treasury (Treasury) with developing regulations
to facilitate information sharing among government entities and
financial institutions for the purpose of combatting terrorism and
money laundering. In 2002, FinCEN published a final rule
implementing the authority contained in Section 314(a) of the USA
PATRIOT Act (the Section 314(a) Rule). The rule required financial
institutions, upon FinCEN’s request (a “Section 314(a) Request”),
to search their records to determine whether they have maintained
an account or conducted a transaction with a specified individual,
entity, or organization that a Federal law enforcement agency has
certified is suspected, based on credible evidence, of engaging in
terrorist activity or money laundering. The rule was expanded in
2010 to enable certain agencies other than Federal law enforcement
agencies to initiate Section 314(a) Requests. As amended, the rule
enables certain foreign law enforcement agencies, state and local
law enforcement agencies, and FinCEN itself, on its own behalf and
on behalf of appropriate components of Treasury, to initiate
Section 314(a) Requests. Before processing a request, FinCEN
requires the requesting agency to certify that, in the case of
money laundering, the matter is significant, and that the
requesting agency has been unable to locate the information sought
through traditional methods of investigation and analysis. The
regulations implementing the rules are found at 31 CFR
1010.520.
The total burden hours
decreased by 2,361,498 hours from 2,917,200 hours in 2022 to
555,702 hours in 2025. The primary reason for the decrease in
burden is the decrease in the burden estimate per subject from 32
minutes in 2022 to four minutes in 2025. The number of respondents
also decreased slightly from 14,960 financial institutions in 2022
to 12,726 financial institutions in 2025. See additional details in
the supporting statement.
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.