BSA/AML Examination Manual - ffiec

Funds Transfers Recordkeeping — Overview
Expiration of the Conditional Customer Information
File Exception — Travel Rule
From 1998 to 2004, a conditional exception to the Travel Rule generally permitted banks
to include a customer’s coded name or pseudonym in a transmittal order, provided that
the bank maintained the customer’s full information in an automated customer
information file (CIF). FinCEN revoked this exception, known as the “CIF exception,”
as of July 1, 2004. After that date institutions must use a customer’s true name and
address to comply with the Travel Rule. At this time, banks may still be examined where
transactions subject to the CIF exception may be included in the examiner’s sample for
transaction testing.
Abbreviations and Addresses
Although the Travel Rule does not permit the use of coded names or pseudonyms, the
rule does allow the use of abbreviated names, names reflecting different accounts of a
corporation (e.g., XYZ Payroll Account), and trade and assumed names of a business
(“doing business as”) or the names of unincorporated divisions or departments of the
business.
Customer Address
The term “address,” as used in 31 CFR 103.33(g), is not defined. Previously issued
guidance from FinCEN had been interpreted as not allowing the use of mailing addresses
in a transmittal order when a street address is known to the transmittor’s financial
institution. However, in the November 28, 2003, Federal Register notice, 96 FinCEN
issued a regulatory interpretation that states the Travel Rule should allow the use of
mailing addresses, including post office boxes, in the transmittor address field of
transmittal orders in certain circumstances.
The regulatory interpretation states that, for purposes of 31 CFR 103.33(g), the term
“address” means either the transmittor’s street address or the transmittor’s address
maintained in the financial institution’s automated CIF (such as a mailing address
including a post office box) as long as the institution maintains the transmittor’s address 97
on file and the address information is retrievable upon request by law enforcement.
96 68 Federal Register 66708.
97 Consistent with 31 CFR 103.121, an “address” for purposes of the Travel Rule is as follows: for an
individual, “address” is a residential or business street address, an Army Post Office Box or a Fleet Post
Office Box, or the residential or business street address of next of kin or another contact person for persons
who do not have a residential or business address. For a person other than an individual (such as a
corporation, partnership, or trust), “address” is a principal place of business, local office, or other physical
location. However, while 31 CFR 103.121 applies only to new customers opening accounts on or after
October 1, 2003, and while the rule exempt funds transfers from the definition of “account,” for banks, the
Travel Rule applies to all transmittals of funds of $3,000 or more, whether or not the transmittor is a
customer for purposes of 31 CFR 103.121.
FFIEC BSA/AML Examination Manual 104 8/24/2007