Notices to Members

November 23, 2004

USA Patriot Act 314(a) Information Requests

On September 26, 2002, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule under Section 314(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act that established a process by which law enforcements agencies, through FinCEN, request information from financial institutions regarding individual, entities or organizations that are suspected of engaging in money laundering or terrorist financing. FCMs should be receiving these requests on a bi-weekly basis.

Late last year, NFA collected point of contact (POC) information for these requests from FCM Members and forwarded this information to FinCEN. Recently, FinCEN has recommended that financial institutions, including FCMs, provide POC information for multiple individuals and one generic e-mail address that can be accessed by all POCs provided. Multiple POCs and a generic e-mail address will enhance FinCEN's ability to communicate with a firm, particularly in situations where a POC becomes unavailable and their e-mail is not readily accessible to the firm.

FinCEN's recommendation is not a mandatory requirement. However, NFA believes FinCEN's recommendation may assist FCMs in complying with the requirements related to 314 information requests. In order to assist FCM Members in providing this information to FinCEN, NFA is willing to collect this information from FCMs and forward the updated information to FinCEN.

If your firm would like to provide multiple POCs and a generic e-mail address to FinCEN, please send an e-mail to dchristman@nfa.futures.org by December 15, 2004 and provide the following information: Member firm name, POCs' names and titles, POCs' telephone numbers, POCs' facsimile numbers and a generic e-mail address. NFA will compile this information and forward it to FinCEN.

NFA was recently notified that a number of firm e-mail addresses on file with FinCEN are not valid. NFA reminds firms that it is their responsibility to ensure that the contact information remains accurate. All firms should periodically review their current POC information and notify NFA of any changes or updated information.

If you have any questions on this matter, please contact Carol Wooding, Assistant General Counsel at 312-781-1409 or Sharon Pendleton, Associate Director, Compliance at 312-648-6540.