On July 21, 2025, the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it will postpone the effective date of the investment advisers anti-money laundering rule (the IA Rule) until January 1, 2028. The IA Rule extends the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance program requirements and suspicious activity reporting obligations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to SEC-Registered Investment Advisers and certain Exempt Reporting Advisers (ERAs).
The IA Rule was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, however FinCEN has decided to postpone the effective date to allow the agency to revisit the costs and benefits associated with the rule. It is unlikely that the IA Rule will be eliminated, but it is likely that the AML/CFT requirements will be scaled back. Such a scale back would be consistent with the larger deregulatory agenda of the Trump administration. For example, earlier in the year the administration eliminated beneficial ownership reporting requirements for US companies and US persons under the Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Rule.
Many investment advisers have taken a “wait and see” approach to complying with the IA Rule. This postponement rewards that risk-based decision for the time being. However, impacted advisers should continue to monitor further rulemaking in this area, taking the opportunity to comment formally where applicable. Despite evidence of deregulation in other areas of financial crimes compliance, sanctions compliance (and “gatekeepers” such as attorneys, accountants, and investment professionals) remains one of Treasury’s paramount concerns. For example, in mid-June, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a $215,000,000 penalty to the Silicon Valley venture capital firm GVA Capital, Ltd. for violating Russian sanctions. Specifically, GVA Capital knowingly managed investments for a Russian oligarch who had been on OFAC’s sanctions list since 2018, by dealing with the oligarch’s nephew who was acting as proxy. This indicated that FinCEN remains willing to pursue enforcement actions where there is evidence of persons acting as a proxy for a sanctioned party.
At Forvis Mazars, we are dedicated to providing you with the best solutions. Notwithstanding the postponement of the IA Rule, the importance of developing and maintaining a robust AML/CFT framework remains. For more information on how we can help evaluate and optimize your program, please contact us.