Rule
Geographic Targeting Order Imposing Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements on Certain Money Services Businesses Along the Southwest Border
The full text was pulled automatically from the official source and is not Threadline News reporting; the annotations alongside it are.
Agency
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Treasury.
Action
Order.
Summary
FinCEN is issuing this Geographic Targeting Order, requiring certain money services businesses along the southwest border of the United States to report and retain records of transactions in currency of $1,000 or more, but not more than $10,000, and to verify the identity of persons presenting such transactions.
Dates
Effective date: This action is effective September 3, 2026. Compliance date: The compliance date for persons that were not Covered Businesses under the Geographic Targeting Order published by FinCEN on March 10, 2026 (91 FR 11456), is October 3, 2026.
For further information contact
FinCEN's Regulatory Support Section by submitting an inquiry at www.fincen.gov/contact.
I. Background
If the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) finds, upon his own initiative or at the request of an appropriate Federal or State law enforcement official, that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that additional recordkeeping and reporting requirements are necessary to carry out the purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) \1\ or to prevent evasions thereof, the Secretary may issue a Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) requiring any domestic financial institution or group of domestic financial institutions, or any domestic nonfinancial trade or business or group of domestic nonfinancial trades or businesses, in a geographic area to obtain such information as the Secretary may describe in such GTO concerning any transaction in which such financial institution or nonfinancial trade or business is involved in for the payment, receipt, or transfer of funds (as the Secretary may describe in such GTO), and concerning any other person participating in such transaction.\2\ For any such transaction, the Secretary may require the financial institution or nonfinancial trade or business to maintain a record and/ or file a report in the manner and to the extent specified.\3\ The maximum effective period for a GTO is 180 days unless renewed.\4\ The authority of the Secretary to issue a GTO has been delegated to the Director of FinCEN (Director).\5\
\1\ The Bank Secrecy Act, as amended, is codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b, 1951-1960 and 31 U.S.C. 5311-5314, 5316-5336 and includes other authorities reflected in notes thereto. Regulations implementing the BSA appear at 31 CFR chapter X. The Secretary of the Treasury's authority to administer the BSA has been delegated to the Director of FinCEN. See Treasury Order 180-01 (Jan. 14, 2020). \2\ 31 U.S.C. 5326(a); see also 31 CFR 1010.370. \3\ 31 U.S.C. 5326(a). \4\ 31 U.S.C. 5326(d). \5\ Treasury Order 180-01 (Jan. 14, 2020).
The Director finds that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that the additional recordkeeping and reporting requirements set forth in the GTO contained in this document (the "Order") are necessary to carry out the purposes of the BSA or to prevent evasions thereof. This action is being taken in furtherance of Treasury's efforts
to combat illicit finance by drug cartels and other illicit actors along the southwest border of United States. The Order does not alter any existing BSA obligation of a Covered Business (as defined in the Order), except as otherwise noted in the Order itself. Thus, for example, a Covered Business must continue to file Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) for transactions in currency above $10,000 and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) where appropriate and in accordance with the BSA and applicable regulations. Although the dollar thresholds for filing SARs in the SAR regulation applicable to Covered Businesses remains the same (as low as $2,000),\6\ FinCEN encourages the voluntary filing of SARs where appropriate to report transactions conducted to evade the $1,000 reporting threshold imposed by the Order.
\6\ 31 CFR 1022.320.
A. Businesses and Transactions Covered by This Order
1. For purposes of this Order, the term "Covered Business" means a money services business, as defined in 31 CFR 1010.100(ff), located in the Covered Geographic Area, except, for the period during which an applicable injunction remains in force, any money services business to which the government is enjoined by court order from applying the Geographic Targeting Order published by FinCEN on March 14, 2025 (90 FR 12106). 2. For purposes of this Order, a "Covered Transaction" means each deposit, withdrawal, exchange of currency or other payment or transfer, by, through, or to the Covered Business which involves a transaction in currency, of $1,000 or more, but not more than $10,000. 3. For purposes of this Order, a "Covered Geographic Area" means: a. The following zip codes in Texas: i. 78521, 78520, 78526, 78550, 78586, 78552, 78566, 78559, 78578, 78593, 78583, 78575, 78597, 78592, 78535, 78567, 78522, 78523, 78553, 78551, and 78568 associated with Cameron County, Texas; ii. 79936, 79938, 79928, 79912, 79924, 79907, 79927, 79925, 79915, 79904, 79932, 79934, 79930, 79905, 79902, 79935, 79903, 79849, 79835, 79911, 79901, 79836, 79821, 79922, 79906, 79838, 79908, 79916, 79853, 79918, 79920, 79923, 79931, 79913, 79914, 79929, 79917, 79996, 79937, 79926, 79995, 79968, 79940, 79980, 79999, 79958, 79960, 79951, 79947, 79943, 79953, 79954, 79941, 79942, 79946, 79955, 79945, 79950, 79952, 79948, 79949, 79944, 79997, 79998, 88513, 88565, 88590, 88587, 79961, 79976, 79978, 88588, 88540, 88554, 88575, 88562, 88515, 88563, 88512, 88561, 88569, 88511, 88567, 88514, 88526, 88570, 88572, 88579, 88533, 88577, 88530, 88578, 88525, 88574, 88520, 88523, 88580, 88571, 88517, 88519, 88566, 88573, 88583, 88584, 88585, 88586, 88524, 88550, 88595, 88518, 88568, 88521, 88528, 88529, 88510, 88589, 88527, 88560, 88545, 88536, 88558, 88559, 88544, 88576, 88531, 88532, 88553, 88547, 88555, 88557, 88542, 88549, 88548, 88541, 88546, 88539, 88543, 88556, 88534, 88538, 88535, 88581, 88582, and 79910 associated with El Paso County, Texas; iii. 78542, 78577, 78572, 78504, 78574, 78501, 78541, 78537, 78573, 78589, 78596, 78539, 78599, 78516, 78570, 78503, 78576, 78557, 78538, 78543, 78595, 78560, 78562, 78579, 78558, 78549, 78563, 78565, 78540, 78505, and 78502 associated with Hidalgo County, Texas; iv. 78852, 78877, 78860, and 78853 associated with Maverick County, Texas; and v. 78046, 78045, 78041, 78043, 78040, 78344, 78044, 78369, 78371, and 78042 associated with Webb County, Texas; \7\
\7\ As of this date, the government is enjoined from applying the Geographic Targeting Order of March 14, 2025, to certain MSBs in Texas. Thus, until the relevant injunctions are lifted, those MSBs are exempt from the definition of Covered Businesses for purposes of the requirements of this Order.
b. The following zip codes in New Mexico: i. 87121, 87158, 87192, 87153, 87191, 87181, 87131, 87190, 87176, 87154, 87194, 87197, 87125, 87198, 87196, 87103, 87119, 87115, 87185, 87199, 87184, 87195, 87193, 87101, 87107, 87114, 87120, 87111, 87105, 87112, 87123, 87110, 87109, 87108, 87187, 87102, 87122, 87113, 87104, 87116, 87151, 87106, 87008, 87022, 87117, 87047, and 87059 associated with Bernalillo County, New Mexico; ii. 88021, 88024, 88027, 88081, 88032, 88033, 87936, 87937, 88044, 88003, 88004, 88001, 88006, 88013, 88007, 88005, 88011, 88012, 88046, 88047, 88048, 88052, 88054, 87940, 87941, 88058, 88008, 88063, 88072, and 88002 associated with Dona Ana County, New Mexico; and iii. 87410, 87412, 87413, 87401, 87402, 87499, 87415, 87416, 87417, 87418, 87037, 87419, 87455, 87461, 87364, 87420, and 87421 associated with San Juan County, New Mexico 4. All terms used but not otherwise defined herein shall have the same meaning set forth in part 1010 of chapter X of subtitle B of title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
B. Reports Required To Be Filed by the Covered Business
5. Except as otherwise set forth in this Order, if the Covered Business is involved in a Covered Transaction, then the Covered Business shall report the Covered Transaction to FinCEN on a Currency Transaction Report within 30 days following the day on which the Covered Transaction occurred. In the case of the U.S. Postal Service, the obligation contained in the preceding sentence shall not apply to payments or transfers made solely in connection with the purchase of postage or philatelic products.
Note: When submitting the report, the Covered Business may receive a warning that the transaction is below $10,000. The Covered Business shall ignore the warning and continue with the submission.
6. Each report filed pursuant to this Order must be: (a) completed in accordance with the terms of this Order and the Currency Transaction Report instructions (when those terms and those instructions conflict, the terms of this Order prevail); and (b) e-filed though the BSA E- Filing System.\8\
\8\ To electronically file a Currency Transaction Report, a Covered Business will need a BSA E-Filing User account. To create a BSA E-Filing User account, please visit https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/Enroll_Now.html. For more information on E-Filing, please visit https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/AboutBsa.html.
7. Before concluding a Covered Transaction, the Covered Business must comply with the identification requirements set forth at 31 CFR 1010.312, including the requirement that the specific identifying information (e.g., the account number of the credit card, the driver's license number) used in verifying the identity of the customer shall be recorded on the Currency Transaction Report, and the mere notation of "known customer" or "bank signature card on file" on the report is prohibited. For purposes of this requirement, the Covered Business need not identify employees of armored car services. 8. The Covered Business is not required to file a report otherwise required under this Order on a Covered Transaction between the Covered Business and a commercial bank. 9. Part IV of the Currency Transaction Report shall contain the following information in Field 45: "MSB0926GTO".