Treasury Secretary Congratulates FinCEN on Successful Launch of Beneficial Ownership Reporting System

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen congratulated staff at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") for the successful launch of the beneficial ownership reporting system. The reporting requirements went into effect on January 1, 2024.

In remarks at FinCEN's Virginia office, the Secretary reported that in the first week of the year, the United States received over 100,000 filings. The beneficial ownership reporting requirement was the focus of the Corporate Transparency Act of 2021, which mandated that U.S. companies report identifying information about who directly or indirectly owns or controls them. Ms. Yellen underscored the work done to make it easy for companies to report, including for small businesses, and additional efforts to partner with international civil society organizations on transparency.

The Secretary also highlighted the "impressive array of work" undertaken by FinCEN, including, in particular, regarding (i) Treasury's settlement against Binance, the world's largest virtual currency exchange, and (ii) the work done to increase the transparency in the real estate and investment sectors. She said that the enforcement action against Binance "sent a powerful message to the broader virtual currency [market]." She also said that Treasury expects to issue a proposed rulemaking to bring "greater transparency to residential real estate transactions."