2024-18036. Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Regulations Requiring Additional Records To Be Made and Retained by Dealers in Foreign Exchange and Additional Records To Be Made and ...

Table 1. Distribution of Financial Institutions Covered by This Notice, by Type of Financial Institution

Type of financial institution	Number of financial institutions
Dealers in foreign exchange	a  3,623
Brokers or dealers in securities	b  3,478
Total number of financial institutions	7,101
a  This number is derived from data as self-reported by MSBs identified as active at year-end 2023 in FinCEN's publicly available MSB registration database (available at https://www.fincen.gov/​msb-state-selector, downloaded Feb. 28, 2024).
b  This estimate is based on a December 2023 file downloaded from data maintained by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC). SEC, Company Information About Active Broker-Dealers available at https://www.sec.gov/​help/​foiadocsbdfoia (accessed on Feb. 28, 2024).

In connection with a variety of initiatives FinCEN is undertaking to implement the AML Act, FinCEN intends to conduct, in the future, additional assessments of the PRA burden associated with BSA requirements.

Part 2. Annual PRA Burden and Cost

OMB Control Number 1506-0052

31 CFR 1022.410(a)

Each dealer in foreign exchange must secure and maintain a record of the taxpayer identification number of certain persons for whom a transaction account is opened or a line of credit is extended. The taxpayer identification number must be obtained and recorded within 30 days of the date the account is opened or credit line extended, or longer if the person opening the account or seeking the line of credit needs to apply for a taxpayer identification or social security number. A dealer in foreign exchange will not be treated as violating the requirement if it has made a reasonable effort to obtain a taxpayer identification number, maintains a list containing the names, addresses, and account or credit line numbers of those persons from whom it has not secured a taxpayer identification number, and provides these names, addresses, and account or credit line numbers to the Secretary upon request.

31 CFR 1022.410(b)

Each dealer in foreign exchange must retain the original or a copy of nine types of documents, as described in ( print page 65983) Section I—Statutory and Regulatory Provisions above.

Due to the challenges of obtaining the total number of such records required to be maintained by dealers in foreign exchange under 31 CFR 1022.410, in its most recent control number renewal, FinCEN estimated that the annual recordkeeping burden per dealer in foreign exchange for these requirements was 16 hours.^[15] FinCEN continues to estimate that the annual hourly burden of complying with 31 CFR 1022.410 is 16 hours per dealer in foreign exchange.

Multiplying 3,623 dealers in foreign exchange ^[16] by 16 hours results in a total annual hourly burden estimate of 57,968 hours.

OMB Control Number 1506-0053

31 CFR 1023.410(a)

As noted above, brokers or dealers in securities have no recordkeeping responsibilities under this provision; the obligation of brokers or dealers in securities to maintain customer identification programs pursuant to 31 CFR 1023.220 has effectively replaced these responsibilities.

31 CFR 1023.410(b)

Each broker or dealer in securities must retain an original or copy of certain types of documents, as described in Section I—Statutory and Regulatory Provisions above.

Due to the challenges of obtaining the total number of such records required to be maintained by brokers or dealers in securities, in its most recent control number renewal, FinCEN estimated the annual recordkeeping burden per broker or dealer in securities for these requirements to be 100 hours.^[17] FinCEN continues to estimate that the annual hourly burden of complying with 31 CFR 1023.410 is 100 hours per broker or dealer in securities.

Multiplying 3,478 brokers or dealers in securities ^[18] by 100 hours results in a total annual hourly burden estimate of 347,800 hours.

Total Annual PRA Hourly Burden for OMB Control Numbers 1506-0052 and 1506-0053

FinCEN's estimate of the annual PRA burden, therefore, is 405,768 hours, as detailed in table 2 below:

Table 2—Distribution of Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours per Requirement by Type of Affected Financial Institution

Regulatory requirement	OMB control No.	Affected financial institution type	Number of financial institutions	Annual burden estimate per financial institution (hours)	Total annual burden hours per regulatory requirement
31 CFR 1022.410	1506-0052	Dealers in foreign exchange	3,623	16	57,968
31 CFR 1023.410	1506-0053	Brokers or dealers in securities	3,478	100	347,800
Total annual hour burden hours					405,768

FinCEN is utilizing the same fully loaded composite hourly wage rate of $106.30 utilized in the 2024 notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRMs) entitled Customer Identification Programs for Registered Investment Advisers and Exempt Reporting Companies and Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Programs, as well as in recent 60-Day Notices to renew OMB control numbers corresponding to specific BSA regulations.^[19]

The total estimated cost of the annual PRA burden is $43,133,138.40, as reflected in table 3 below:

Table 3—Estimated Total Cost of Annual PRA Burden

OMB control No./regulation	Burden hours	Wage rate	Total cost
1506-0052 (31 CFR 1022.410)	57,968	$106.30	$6,161,998.40
1506-0053 (31 CFR 1023.410)	347,800	106.30	36,971,140.00
Total cost			43,133,138.40