[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 94 (Thursday, May 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29022-29030]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-10310]



[[Page 29022]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal; 
Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of the Bank Secrecy Act Reports 
of Transactions in Currency Regulations at 31 CFR 1010.310 Through 
1010.314, 31 CFR 1021.311, and 31 CFR 1021.313, and FinCEN Report 112--
Currency Transaction Report

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden, FinCEN invites comments on the proposed renewal, 
without change, of currently approved information collections relating 
to reports of transactions in currency. Under Bank Secrecy Act 
regulations, financial institutions are required to report transactions 
in currency of more than $10,000 using FinCEN Report 112 (the currency 
transaction report, or CTR). Although no changes are proposed to the 
information collections themselves, this request for comments covers a 
proposed updated burden estimate for the information collection. This 
request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (PRA).

DATES: Written comments are welcome, and must be received on or before 
July 13, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Federal E-rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Refer to Docket Number 
FINCEN-2020-0003 and the specific Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
control numbers 1506-0004, 1506-0005, and 1506-0064.
     Mail: Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement 
Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket Number FINCEN-
2020-0003 and OMB control number 1506-0004, 1506-0005, and 1506-0064.
    Please submit comments by one method only. Comments will also be 
incorporated into FinCEN's review of existing regulations, as provided 
by Treasury's 2011 Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing Rules. 
All comments submitted in response to this notice will become a matter 
of public record. Therefore, you should submit only information that 
you wish to make publicly available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The FinCEN Regulatory Support Section 
at 1-800-767-2825 or electronically at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Statutory and Regulatory Provisions

    The legislative framework generally referred to as the Bank Secrecy 
Act (BSA) consists of the Currency and Financial Transactions Reporting 
Act of 1970, as amended by the Uniting and Strengthening America by 
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct 
Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) (Pub. L. 107-56) and other 
legislation. The BSA is codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b, 12 U.S.C. 1951-
1959, 31 U.S.C. 5311-5314 and 5316-5332, and notes thereto, with 
implementing regulations at 31 CFR Chapter X.
    The BSA authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, inter alia, to 
require financial institutions to keep records and file reports that 
are determined to have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, 
and regulatory matters, or in the conduct of intelligence or counter-
intelligence activities, to protect against international terrorism, 
and to implement counter-money laundering programs and compliance 
procedures.\1\ Regulations implementing Title II of the BSA appear at 
31 CFR Chapter X. The authority of the Secretary to administer the BSA 
has been delegated to the Director of FinCEN.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Language expanding the scope of the BSA to intelligence or 
counter-intelligence activities to protect against international 
terrorism was added by Section 358 of the USA Patriot Act.
    \2\ Treasury Order 180-01 (re-affirmed Jan. 14, 2020).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Under 31 U.S.C. 5313, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized 
to require financial institutions to report currency transactions 
exceeding $10,000. Regulations implementing 31 U.S.C. 5313 are found at 
31 CFR 1010.310 through 1010.314, 31 CFR 1021.311, and 31 CFR 1021.313. 
Generally, information collected pursuant to the BSA is confidential, 
but may be shared as provided by law with regulatory and law 
enforcement authorities.

II. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Title: Reports of Transactions in Currency by Financial 
Institutions (31 CFR 1010.310 through 1010.314, 31 CFR 1021.311, and 31 
CFR 1021.313).
    OMB Control Numbers: 1506-0004, 1506-0005, and 1506-0064.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ The reports of transactions in currency regulatory 
requirements are currently covered under the following OMB control 
numbers: 1506-0004 (General provisions--31 CFR 1010.310--Reports of 
transactions in currency, 31 CFR 1010.311--Filing obligations for 
reports of transactions in currency, 31 CFR 1010.312--Identification 
required, 31 CFR 1010.313--Aggregation, and 31 CFR 1010.314--
Structured transactions), and 1506-0005 (Rules for casinos and card 
clubs--31 CFR 1021.311--Reports of transaction in currency, and 31 
CFR 1021.313--Aggregation). OMB control number 1506-0064 applies to 
FinCEN Report 112--CTR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Report Number: FinCEN Report 112--Currency Transaction Report 
(CTR).
    Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this notice to renew the OMB control 
numbers for the CTR regulations and the CTR report.
    Type of Review: Renewal without change of currently approved 
information collections.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit institutions, and 
non-profit institutions.

CTR Regulations

    Estimated Burden: An administrative burden of one hour is assigned 
to each of the CTR regulation OMB control numbers in order to maintain 
the requirements in force.\5\ The reporting and recordkeeping burden is 
reflected in FinCEN Report 112--CTR, under OMB control number 1506-
0064. The rationale for assigning one burden hour to each of the CTR 
regulation OMB control numbers is that the annual burden hours would be 
double counted if FinCEN estimated burden in each CTR regulation OMB 
control number and in the FinCEN Report 112--CTR OMB control number.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ One hour of burden is estimated under each of the following 
OMB control numbers: 1506-0004 and 1506-0005.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FinCEN Report 112--CTR

    Type of Review:
     Propose for review and comment a re-calculation of the 
portion of the PRA burden that has been subject to notice and comment 
in the past.
     Propose for review and comment a method to estimate the 
portion of the PRA burden that FinCEN previously had not included.
    Frequency: As required.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden: The total estimate of 
the annual reporting and recordkeeping burden contained herein consists 
of two parts: (a) a re-calculation of the portion of the PRA burden 
that FinCEN traditionally included in its PRA renewal notices (the 
``traditional PRA burden calculation''); and (b) an estimate of the 
portion of the total burden that FinCEN previously did not include in 
its PRA calculations (the ``supplemental PRA burden calculation'').

[[Page 29023]]

    FinCEN's traditional annual PRA burden calculation associated with 
the CTR previously included only the filer's annual operational burden 
and cost associated with (a) producing and filing the report, and (b) 
storing a copy of the filed report. Starting with the current PRA 
renewal notice, FinCEN intends to add a supplemental PRA burden 
calculation, reflecting the annual costs involved in (a) obtaining data 
required by the report that the filer does not need for its own 
bookkeeping, and (b) maintaining, updating, and upgrading the 
technological infrastructure required to file and store the report.

Part 1. Breakdown of the 2019 CTR Filings

    In 2019, 14,276 individual filers (the filing population) submitted 
16,087,182 CTRs (the 2019 CTR submissions). To present a more complete 
breakdown of the 2019 filing population, FinCEN grouped filers into 
twelve tranches according to the range of CTRs filed during the year. 
The tranches are listed in descending order starting with filers 
accounting for the most CTRs filed annually (``01_LARGEST FILERS''), to 
filers submitting six or fewer CTRs annually (``12_1-6/YEAR), as set 
out in Table 1 below.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \6\ The category ``Other'' includes filers belonging to other 
types of financial institutions than the ones identified in the 
table (such as insurance companies and mutual funds), and some 
filers where the type of financial institution was undetermined at 
the time of the tabulation.

                                           Table 1--2019 Filers, by Range of the Number of Reports Filed (Tranches), and Type of Financial Institution
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                             Casino card club     Depository institution      Money services               Other            Securities/futures
                                                     Total       Total   ------------------------------------------------     business (MSB)     -----------------------------------------------
                     Tranche                        filers      reports                                                  ------------------------
                                                                            Filers      Reports     Filers      Reports     Filers      Reports     Filers      Reports     Filers      Reports
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01_LARGEST_FILERS...............................          19   7,971,675  ..........  ..........          19   7,971,675
02_100-2000/WEEK................................         287   4,434,506          73         946         507         206   3,393,315           5      33,515           3      61,169
03_50-99/WEEK...................................         262     925,809          56     198,827         188     656,924          17      67,414           1       2,644
04_10-49/WEEK...................................       1,562   1,723,657         159     195,821       1,224   1,336,193         167     176,148          12      15,495
05_5-9/WEEK.....................................       1,296     487,224          87      33,547       1,029     387,095         172      63,774           8       2,898
06_121-259/YEAR.................................       1,632     292,595          77      13,943       1,281     229,059         263      47,459           9       1,749           2         385
07_73-120/YEAR..................................       1,102     104,671          53       5,141         821      78,048         206      19,443          22       2,039
08_37-72/YEAR...................................       1,531      80,568          66       3,406       1,152      60,985         278      14,432          35       1,745
09_25-36/YEAR...................................         808      24,433          28         835         588      17,838         170       5,103          21         627           1          30
10_13-24/YEAR...................................       1,323      23,596          41         722         917      16,355         310       5,556          54         946           1          17
11_7-12/YEAR....................................       1,089      10,122          39         369         656       6,138         323       2,975          71         640
12_1-6/YEAR.....................................       3,365       8,326         106         273       1,519       4,098       1,188       2,784         547       1,158           5          13
                                                 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Grand Total.................................      14,276  16,087,182         785   1,399,301       9,600  14,157,723       3,099     438,603         783       9,110           9         445
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Table 1 illustrates that in 2019, 19 filers (all of them depository 
institutions) filed almost half of the 2019 CTR submissions (7,971,675 
reports). These large filers submitted in excess of 2,000 reports per 
week.\7\ Adding these numbers to the submissions of filers that filed 
between 100 and 2,000 reports per week, totals 306 individual filers 
(or slightly over 2% of the filing population), accounting for over 
three-quarters of the 2019 CTR submissions (12,406,181 reports).\8\ 
Furthermore, depository institutions represent two-thirds of the filing 
population, and filed 88% of the 2019 CTR submissions. The high 
concentration of filings in a very small fraction of the filing 
population, and the preponderance of depository institutions at any 
tranche level will impact the averages of both burden and cost.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ The annual range of the number of reports filed by each 
large filer is between 110,000 and nearly 2,000,000 reports per 
year.
    \8\ The 19 largest CTR filers plus 287 filers reporting between 
100 and 2,000 CTRs per week, totals 306 filers. 7,971,675 CTRs 
reported by the 19 largest filers plus 4,434,506 CTRs reported by 
filers reporting between 100 and 2,000 CTRs per week, totals 
12,406,181 reports.
    \9\ As large filers that are depository institutions account for 
a very large percentage of the 2019 CTR submissions, the general 
averages of burden and cost for the filer population will be greatly 
affected by the characteristics of the filings of depository 
institutions belonging to the first two tranches.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    All filers submit their reports electronically, either in batch or 
discrete form.\10\ Table 2 below sets out the distribution of the 2019 
CTR submissions by tranche, filing method, and type of financial 
institution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \10\ In batch-filing, a filer submits a single electronic file 
containing several reports. In discrete-filing, the filer fills in 
an electronic form individually, using a data entry screen that 
FinCEN provides. While exceptions apply, batch-filing is generally 
used by large-volume filers that have automated the filing process, 
while discrete-filing is generally employed by filers that submit 
fewer forms per year and rely more on manual data entry methods.

                                            Table 2--Break-down of 2018 CTR Submissions, by Tranche, Filing Method, and Type of Financial Institution
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Reports                 Casino card club          Depository          Money services             Other          Securities/futures
                                               ---------------------------------------------------------      institution          business (MSB)    -------------------------------------------
                    Tranche                                                                             ---------------------------------------------
                                                   Batch     Discrete     Total      Batch     Discrete     Batch     Discrete    Batch     Discrete    Batch     Discrete    Batch     Discrete
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01_LARGEST_FILERS.............................   7,937,017     34,658   7,971,675  .........         19   7,937,017     34,658
02_100-2000/WEEK..............................   4,304,983    129,523    443,4506    924,763     21,744   3,318,491     7,4824     12,621     20,894     49,108     12,061
03_50-99/WEEK.................................     835,918     89,891     925,809    170,474     28,353     627,595     29,329     37,849     29,565  .........       2644
04_10-49/WEEK.................................   1,261,192    462,465   1,723,657    133,909     61,912   1,101,645    234,548     24,353    151,795      1,285      14210
05_5-9/WEEK...................................     265,191    222,033     487,224     16,806     16,651     243,531    143,564      4,854     58,920  .........       2898
06_121-259/YEAR...............................     111,215    181,380     292,595      5,175      8,768     102,810    126,249      2,971     44,488  .........      2,039        385
07_73-120/YEAR................................      29,528     75,143     104,671      1,244      3,897      26,875     51,173      1,409     18,034  .........      2,039
08_37-72/YEAR.................................      16,042     64,526      80,568        757      2,649      14,430     46,555        855     13,577  .........      1,745
09_25-36/YEAR.................................       3,289     21,144      24,433        188        647       2,836     15,002        265      4,838  .........        627  .........         30
10_13-24/YEAR.................................       2,993     21,303      23,596         67        655       1,942     14,413        263      5,293         21        925         17
11_7-12/YEAR..................................         688      9,434      10,122         49        320         503      5,635        136      2,839        640
12_1-6/YEAR...................................         347      7,979       8,326         34        239         146      3,952        158      2,626          9      1,149         13
                                               -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Grand Total...............................  14,767,703  1,319,479  16,087,182  1,253,466    145,835  13,377,821    779,902     85,734    352,869     50,423     40,687        259        186
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 29024]]

    Table 2 shows that, in the aggregate, there is a marked 
predilection for batch filing among the filing population (92% of the 
2019 CTR submissions were batch-filed). However, filers belonging to 
any tranche combine batch and discrete filing, with the preference 
shifting from batch filing to discrete filing as the number of reports 
filed per year goes down. The aggregate percentages also are influenced 
by the concentration of submissions in the first two tranches, and in 
the preponderance of depository institutions in the filing population. 
When focusing on individual types of financial institution, the 
percentage of batch filings vary significantly (money services 
businesses (MSBs), for example, file only 20% of their reports in batch 
form).
    The CTR requires the identification of persons (i.e., entities or 
individuals) that fulfill certain roles in the transaction or group of 
transactions reflected in each report, either as principals (e.g., a 
person that conducts a transaction on its own behalf, or a person on 
whose behalf a transaction is conducted), or non-principals (e.g., a 
person that conducts a transaction on behalf of another person, or any 
currency transporters not hired by the filer itself). The number of 
persons per CTR varies significantly among the 2019 CTR submissions. 
Breakdowns of those transactions, however, are available where a person 
operated on its own behalf, or where the person operating on behalf of 
another did not need to be identified (e.g., transactions conducted 
through ATMs, night deposit windows, or transported by currency 
transporters hired by the filer). Table 3 below sets out the 
breakdowns.

                                         Table 3--Breakdown by Tranche and Type of Person Identified in the CTR
                                                                   [Number of reports]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                           Conducted on own behalf           Information on transactor not
                                                                    -------------------------------------               required
                              Tranche                                                                    -------------------------------------   Total
                                                                      Depository      Non-       Total                     Non-
                                                                                   depository              Depository   depository    Total
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01_LARGEST_FILE....................................................    2,289,162  ...........  2,289,162    2,279,428  ...........  2,279,428  4,568,590
02_100-2000/WEEK...................................................      825,683      961,259  1,786,942      660,123       69,132    729,255  2,447,065
03_50-99/WEEK......................................................      183,055      227,272    410,327      109,655        5,273    114,928    519,982
04_10-49/WEEK......................................................      510,531      277,878    788,409      239,409       23,918    263,327  1,027,818
05_5-9/WEEK........................................................      189,273       68,176    257,449       68,963        4,591     73,554    326,412
06_121-259/YEAR....................................................      128,231       43,146    171,377       41,436        5,734     47,170    212,813
07_73-120/YEAR.....................................................       49,264       18,927     68,191       14,223        2,006     16,229     82,414
08_37-72/YEAR......................................................       42,521       15,155     57,676       10,321        1,583     11,904     67,997
09_25-36/YEAR......................................................       13,242        5,637     18,879        2,545          268      2,813     21,424
010_13-24/YEAR.....................................................       12,913        5,895     18,808        2,209          326      2,535     21,017
011_7-12/YEAR......................................................        5,073        3,398      8,471          625          284        909      9,096
012_1-6/YEAR.......................................................        3,535        3,456      6,991          379          403        782      7,370
                                                                    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Grand Total....................................................    4,252,483    1,630,199  5,882,682    3,429,316      113,518  3,542,834  9,311,998
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In general, depository institutions will only accept reportable 
transactions in currency from established customers subject to the 
institution's customer identification program (CIP).\11\ Therefore, if 
a depository institution's CTR identifies only one type of person, 
typically that person is either an established customer operating on 
its own behalf, or the person on whose behalf the transaction is 
conducted is an established customer and the transaction is conducted 
through a transactor that does not need to be identified. In these 
cases, a depository institution's CIP records for established customers 
would provide the identifying information needed to complete a CTR. In 
addition, as a prudential matter and prior to completing a transaction, 
depository institutions, for example, request identification documents 
such as a driver's license to verify the identity of the customer to 
protect against fraud. Table 3 shows that depository institutions filed 
7,681,799 reports (or 54% of their 2019 CTR submissions) where the only 
person identified in the report was the person subject to the filer's 
CIP requirements.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \11\ For a description of the customer identification program 
requirements, see 31 CFR 1001.220 and Subpart B of 31 CFR Chapter X.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 2. Re-Calculation of the Traditional Annual PRA Burden and Cost

Traditional Annual PRA Burden (Expressed in Hours)

    To comply with their BSA currency transaction reporting 
requirement, filers must implement, operate, and supervise a process 
that may be broken down into the following steps:
     Step 1: Determine whether the filer must report a currency 
transaction or group of transactions, based on the amount of a 
transaction, the aggregation of multiple transactions at the end of the 
day, and certain characteristics of the established customer, the 
transaction, or the transactor (such as whether a depository 
institution filer has exempted an account of an established customer 
from CTR filing). All these determinations are based on objective 
parameters.
     Step 2: Obtain the information required by the CTR on 
parties to the transaction that the filer has not already identified as 
part of (i) its normal business operations, (ii) another BSA 
requirement (such as CIP), or (iii) another regulatory requirement that 
is not BSA-related. Some types of financial institutions filing CTRs 
(e.g., depository institutions) will already maintain most, if not all, 
the information on parties to the transaction in their customer 
database and accounting records.
     Step 3: Complete the CTR with the information on the 
transaction and the parties involved. The completion of the report will 
vary, depending on the technology available to the filer, from a fully-
automated process requiring no manual data entry, to a process that is 
nearly entirely manual.
     Step 4: The filer will submit the report electronically, 
either as a batch or discrete filing. The method of submission does not 
necessarily indicate the level of automation of a financial 
institution's CTR filing process. For example, some filers that submit 
few reports a year batch file, while other filers that submit more 
reports may use discrete filing because they have incorporated into 
their CTR

[[Page 29025]]

filing process software tools that fill in each form automatically and 
release it after manual review of the content.
     Step 5: After filing, the filer must store the report for 
the regulatory recordkeeping period. As the submission consists of an 
electronic file containing one or several reports, the recordkeeping 
will be done electronically too.
    The greater the reliance on automation, the greater the periodic 
cost involved in maintaining, updating, and upgrading the systems and 
tools that either link the filer's different applications to obtain the 
required source data, or that are used for the CTR completion, 
submission, and storage steps.
    FinCEN's estimate of the traditional annual hourly burden of the 
CTR reporting and recordkeeping requirements only takes into 
consideration the time required to complete, submit, and store the 
report (Steps 3 to 5 in the process described above).
    FinCEN has maintained the same method to calculate the CTR PRA 
burden hour estimate since 2002, when paper reports typically were 
filled in manually, mailed to the Internal Revenue Service, and 
uploaded individually. Under this method, the burden estimates per CTR 
were 20 minutes for reporting, and 20 minutes for recordkeeping per 
report, regardless of the type of financial institution or complexity 
of the report. Since 2011, CTRs have been filed electronically, either 
in batch or discrete format. FinCEN has concluded that (a) as either 
filing method allows the filer to save an electronic copy of the 
batched or discrete/individual reports, which satisfies the 
recordkeeping part of the requirement, the recordkeeping portion of the 
traditional annual PRA burden will be zero, and (b) the reporting 
portion of the traditional annual PRA burden will be set at a variable 
number of minutes per report that will reflect the (i) type of 
financial institution, (ii) range of the number of reports filed per 
year, and (iii) filing method.
    For purposes of calculating PRA burden and cost, FinCEN used the 
2019 CTR submissions as a baseline, stipulating that submissions from 
2019 are an appropriate representation of the expected composition of 
the filing population and report submissions for the next three years. 
FinCEN estimates the time required for reporting a CTR, based on these 
parameters, as described in Table 4 below:

                                                   Table 4--Traditional Annual PRA Burden Calculations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Reports                         Minutes per report            Total hours
                                          ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Grand
                 Tranche                          Batch-filed           Discrete-filed         Batch       Discrete                              total
                                          ----------------------------------------------------------------------------    Batch      Discrete   (hours)
                                                D            ND          D          ND       D      ND     D      ND
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01_LARGEST_FILERS........................    7,937,017            0     34,658          0      1      1     20     20      132,284     11,553    143,836
02_100-2000/WEEK.........................    3,318,491      986,492     74,824     54,699      1      1     20     20       71,750     43,174    114,924
All other tranches.......................    2,122,313      403,390    670,420    484,878     20     20     20     20      841,901    385,099  1,227,000
                                          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total................................   13,377,821    1,389,882    779,902    539,577  .....  .....  .....  .....    1,045,934    439,826  1,485,761
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D: Depository Institution.
ND: Non-depository Institution.

    The traditional annual PRA burden estimated by this new method 
(1,485,761 hours) is significantly lower than what FinCEN had 
calculated in the past. Table 4 reflects the following rationale for 
purposes of the new estimate:
     FinCEN considers the reporting time required by both 
depository and non-depository financial institutions belonging to the 
same tranche of filers (based on number of reports filed), to be the 
same.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ However, whether the institution is depository or non-
depository will have an effect when combining the traditional annual 
PRA burden with the supplemental PRA, as described in Part 3 below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     FinCEN stipulates that filers submitting 100 reports per 
week or more, are doing so in a totally automated way (``fully-
automated filers'').
     If a fully-automated filer submits reports through batch 
filing, the individual reports and the batch file that contains them 
are produced automatically, without manual intervention. The burden of 
1 minute per report represents the administrative burden involved in 
carrying out, reviewing, and overseeing the process of filing CTRs, and 
not just the time of preparation and submission per report which would 
be nearly instantaneous, and therefore far lower than 1 minute per 
individual report.
     Where the filing does not involve a fully-automated filer 
submitting reports through batch filing, FinCEN allocates 20 minutes 
per report to reports filed on (a) a discrete basis by fully-automated 
filers, or (b) either a batch or discrete basis by any filer submitting 
fewer than 100 reports per week. The 20 minutes includes the 
administrative burden and the actual time required to enter the 
individual report in FinCEN's data entry screen, or to complete the 
individual report manually before it is added to the batch file. This 
allocation of time is extremely conservative: FinCEN is stipulating 
that filers submitting fewer than 100 reports per week are not 
automated and that, regardless of the filing method, each report will 
require full manual data entry intervention. Similarly, FinCEN 
stipulates that fully-automated filers that file discretely will not 
receive the benefits of any automation, and will incur the same burden 
per report.
    FinCEN intends to conduct more granular studies of the filing 
population in the future, to arrive at more accurate estimates that 
take into consideration a more granular breakdown of the degree of 
automation among CTR filers. The data obtained in these studies may 
result in significant variations of the estimated annual PRA burden 
hours.

Cost of the Traditional Annual PRA Burden

    To estimate the cost of each hour of the traditional annual PRA 
burden, FinCEN identified three types of roles and corresponding staff 
positions involved in the reporting and recordkeeping of CTRs: (1) 
Remote supervision (general process oversight), (ii) direct supervision 
(review of the filing process, and cross-check of filings against 
accounting records), and (iii) operations (actual production, filing, 
and storage of the reports). FinCEN calculated the fully loaded hourly 
wage for each of these three roles by taking the median wage for these 
positions as estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 
and computing an additional cost of benefits as follows: \13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \13\ See U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational 
Employment Statistics-National, May 2019, available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. The most recent data from the U.S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics corresponds to May 2019. For benefits 
component of total compensation, see U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, Employer's Cost per Employee Compensation as of December 
2019, available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm. 
The ratio between benefits and wages for financial activities, 
credit intermediation and related activities is $15.80 (hourly 
benefits)/$31.45 (hourly wages) = 0.502. The benefit factor is 1 
plus the benefit/wages ratio, or 1.502. Multiplying each hourly wage 
by the benefit factor produces the fully-loaded hourly wage per 
position.

[[Page 29026]]



           Table 5--Total Hourly Remuneration (Fully-Loaded Hourly Wage) per Role and BLS Job Position
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                   Median hourly                   Fully-loaded
             Role                  BLS-Code         BLS-Name           wage       Benefit factor    hourly wage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remote Supervision............         11-3031  Financial                 $62.45           1.502          $93.80
                                                 Manager.
Direct Supervision............         13-1041  Compliance                 33.20           1.502           49.87
                                                 Officer.
Operations....................         43-3071  Teller..........           15.02           1.502           22.56
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FinCEN estimates that, on average, each role would spend different 
amounts of time on the CTR reporting and recordkeeping requirements. 
FinCEN further estimates that the total number of hours of the 
traditional annual PRA burden may be allocated to the different roles 
as follows: 1% of the burden will represent the work of remote 
supervision, 9% of the burden will represent the work of direct 
supervision, and the remainder will represent operations work. 
Multiplying the fully-loaded hourly wage from Table 5 by the proportion 
of time FinCEN estimates each role spends on the CTR process, FinCEN 
arrives at a weighted average hourly cost, set out below:

                                                          Table 6--Weighted Average Hourly Cost
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Remote Supervision        Direct supervision            Operations           Weighted
                          Component                           ------------------------------------------------------------------------------   average
                                                                  % time    Hourly cost     % time    Hourly cost     % time    Hourly cost  hourly cost
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recordkeeping and reporting..................................           1       $93.80            9       $49.87           90       $22.56       $25.73
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    FinCEN multiplied the total hours per filer type from Table 4 
(1,485,761 hours), by the weighted average hourly cost from Table 6 
($25.73 per hour), and estimated the cost of the traditional annual PRA 
burden to be $38,228,631.

Part 3. Estimate of the Supplemental Annual PRA Burden

    FinCEN intends to add a supplemental PRA burden calculation, 
reflecting the annual PRA burden and cost involved in (a) obtaining 
data required by the CTR that the filer does not need for its own 
bookkeeping, and (b) maintaining, updating, and upgrading the 
technological infrastructure required to file and store the CTRs.

Annual Hourly PRA Burden of Obtaining Source Data

    For purposes of estimating the annual burden of obtaining and 
verifying information on the parties to a reportable transaction or 
group of transactions (the ``ID-related annual PRA burden''), FinCEN 
consolidates the types of financial institution filing CTRs into two 
major groups, depository and non-depository institutions, and 
stipulates the following:
    1. Depository institutions report CTRs where the principal--the 
person on whose behalf the transaction is conducted (either when the 
person is operating by itself or through a different person)--is an 
established customer subject to CIP.\14\ All depository institutions 
verify and record the customer identification information on the 
principals required by the CTR. Therefore, FinCEN assigns no PRA burden 
to obtaining, verifying, and recording the information on principals of 
currency transactions reported by depository institutions (``ID-related 
PRA burden'').\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \14\ For the regulatory definition of `established customer', 
see 31 CFR 1010.100(p).
    \15\ This stipulation is grounded in FinCEN's review of the 2019 
CTR submissions. In CTRs filed by depository institutions, the filer 
reported a transactional account belonging to either the person 
conducting the transaction on its own behalf, or to the person on 
whose behalf the transaction was conducted, in over 98% and 94% of 
the cases, respectively, while the remaining reports had incomplete 
information in the respective sections.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    2. Non-depository institutions may or may not restrict their 
reportable currency transactions to established customers. 
Conservatively, FinCEN assigns an ID-related PRA burden of three 
minutes per person for a non-depository institution to obtain, verify, 
and record the required information to file a CTR on any principal 
(either a person conducting a currency transaction on its own behalf, 
or a person on whose behalf the transaction was conducted).
    3. Neither depository nor non-depository institutions likely 
maintain in their records the information required by a CTR about a 
person conducting a transaction on behalf of another person. Therefore, 
FinCEN assigns an ID-related PRA burden of three minutes per person for 
an institution to collect the required information to file a CTR on a 
person conducting a transaction on behalf of another person.
    4. The CTR requires the reporting of currency transporters 
operating on behalf of any party that is not the filer.\16\ The 
information required involves the legal person (for example, the 
armored car service company), and not the individual natural person 
performing the physical transportation. There are a limited number of 
currency transporters conducting transactions with depository or non-
depository institutions whose information must be on file for physical 
security reasons (such as controlling access to the vault). Therefore, 
FinCEN assigns an ID-related PRA burden of one minute per currency 
transporter for an institution to collect the required information to 
file a CTR on the currency transporter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \16\ See FIN-2013-R001, ``Treatment of Armored Car Service 
Transactions Conducted on Behalf of Financial Institution Customers 
or Third Parties for Currency Transaction Report Purposes'', July 
12, 2013.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To arrive at the estimate of the total ID-related annual PRA 
burden, FinCEN counted the number of each of the four types of persons 
(i.e., a person operating on its own behalf, a person on whose behalf 
the transaction is conducted, a person conducting the transaction on

[[Page 29027]]

behalf of another, and a currency transporter operating on behalf of a 
person other than the filer) in each 2019 CTR submission, and 
multiplied the total of each type of person identified in each report 
by the corresponding individual ID-related PRA burden, as defined 
above. The breakdown of the total ID-related PRA annual burden is 
described in Table 7 below.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \17\ The column ``Principals'' includes the PRA burden of 
``persons conducting a transaction on their own behalf'', and 
``persons on whose behalf the transaction was conducted'' by 
somebody else. The column ``Non_Principals'' includes the PRA burden 
of ``persons conducting a transaction on behalf of others'' and 
``currency transporters working for a person other than the filer.'' 
Principals carry a zero PRA burden for depository institutions, and 
a 3-minute PRA burden per individual person identified in each 
report for non-depository institutions. In the case of Non-
Principals, ``persons conducting a transaction on behalf of others'' 
carry a 3-minute PRA burden per person identified in each report, 
regardless of the filer type, and ``currency transporters working 
for a person other than the filer'' carry a PRA burden of one minute 
per individual currency transporter identified in each report, 
regardless of the filer type.

                                    Table 7--Total Annual PRA Burden of Obtaining and Verifying Personal Information
                                                                   [Minutes and hours]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Depository                    Non-depository
                         TRANCHE                         ----------------------------------------------------------------  Total minutes    Total hours
                                                            Principals    Non-principals    Principals    Non-principals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01_LARGEST_FILERS.......................................               0      12,905,258               0               0      12,905,258         215,087
02_100-2000/WEEK........................................               0       6,973,483       3,179,679          60,264      10,213,426         170,224
All other tranches......................................               0       4,928,268       2,846,334         640,998       8,415,600         140,260
                                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...............................................               0      24,807,009       6,026,013         701,262      31,534,284         525,571
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The total ID-related annual PRA burden estimated by this method is 
525,571 hours.

Cost of Annual PRA Burden of Obtaining Source Data

    FinCEN multiplied the total hours per filer type from Table 7 
(525,571 hours), by the weighted average hourly cost from Table 6 
($25.73),\18\ and estimated the cost of the total ID-related PRA annual 
burden to be $13,522,942.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \18\ FinCEN stipulates that the weights used to calculate the 
weighted average costs in Table 6 are appropriate weights for the 
calculation of the weighted average costs for the obtaining of 
source data.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Annual PRA Cost and Burden of Maintaining and Upgrading Hardware and 
Software

    It is difficult for FinCEN to separately estimate the annual cost 
and hourly burden a financial institution bears in maintaining the 
hardware and software for the CTR requirement itself (the ``technology-
related annual PRA cost'' and the ``technology-related annual PRA 
burden'' of the CTR, respectively). FinCEN understands that most large 
financial institutions maintain highly integrated software and hardware 
systems for anti-money laundering and safety and soundness purposes 
that leverage the existing need to maintain records and information 
about customers and transactions for business reasons. Given the 
difficulties of calculating such a cost estimate, FinCEN attempted to 
estimate a percentage of the supplemental burden for this report using 
data collected in a previous rulemaking effort. While not exact, this 
is the best information FinCEN currently has to prepare an estimate 
which likely represents the outer limit of the technology-related costs 
relative to the total cost.
    In 2008, FinCEN surveyed certain depository institutions and money 
transmitters to assess the costs to set up and maintain the reporting 
of cross-border electronic transmittal of funds (CBETF) data above 
certain thresholds (the ``2008 Survey'').\19\ Seventy-five depository 
institutions and six money transmitters involved in international 
transmittals of funds responded to the survey. In the case of 
depository institutions, the survey identified proportionally each type 
of cost involved in setting up the reporting process, and the ongoing 
cost involved in complying annually with the proposed CBETF reporting 
obligation.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \19\ FinCEN's 2008 Cross-Border Electronic Funds Transfer Survey 
Final Report is set out in Appendix C of FinCEN's January 2009 study 
on the Implications and Benefits of Cross-Border Funds Transmittal 
Reporting, available at https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/ImplicationsAndBenefitsOfCBFTR.pdf (``January 2009 Study'').
    \20\ Appendix C of the January 2009 Study, page 15.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The breakdown of the annual ongoing reporting compliance costs is 
reflected in Table 8 below.

                             Table 8--Proportion of Components of Annual PRA Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSONNEL................................................        45%     85.00%
ONGOING MANAGEMENT.......................................     23.00%
OTHER....................................................     12.00%               COST COMPONENTS INCLUDED IN
                                                                                            TRADITIONAL
TESTING..................................................      2.00%                AND ID-RELATED ANNUAL PRA
                                                                                              BURDEN
TRAINING.................................................      2.00%
CONSULTING...............................................      1.00%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARDWARE.................................................      6.00%             COST COMPONENTS NOT INCLUDED IN
IT.......................................................      6.00%     15.00%     TRADITIONAL AND ID-RELATED
                                                                                            ANNUAL PRA
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT.....................................      3.00%                          BURDEN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    TOTAL................................................    100.00%    100.00%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The absolute ongoing cost per component estimated by the 2008 
Survey respondents relate to the CBETF reporting, and therefore cannot 
be used to extrapolate the costs of another reporting or recordkeeping 
requirement.

[[Page 29028]]

While the absolute costs may not be extrapolated to another 
requirement, the proportion of the annual ongoing compliance costs 
provided by the depository institution respondents to the 2008 Survey 
can be used to extrapolate an estimate of the technology-related PRA 
cost (15% of the total cost) for fully-automated filers. FinCEN 
assesses such a method is valid because the CTR and CBETF reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements are similar with respect to the objective 
nature of the reporting triggered by threshold amounts of transactions. 
Given the limited information at its disposal regarding the technology-
related costs associated with the filing of CTRs, FinCEN is using the 
proportions of the cost components reported by depository institutions 
to extrapolate the total annual technology-related PRA cost, as CTRs 
filed by depository institutions represent 88% of all CTRs filed in 
2019. In addition, FinCEN believes the proportionality of ongoing costs 
derived from the 2008 Survey is still useful today notwithstanding 
changes in costs over time. Not only has the cost of hardware dropped 
considerably between 2008 and 2019, but the personnel cost associated 
with software development and information technology management has 
increased on par with, or slightly less than, the cost of personnel 
included in the traditional PRA estimate; in other words, the changes 
in costs of the different components of the information technology 
investment have grown at a slower pace than the traditional annual PRA 
cost estimate.\21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \21\ See footnote 8. See also, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
Occupational Employment Statistics-National, May 2008, available at 
https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. Between 2008 and 2019, for 
example, the median hourly wage for financial managers, compliance 
officers, and tellers went up 17.41%, 28.43%, and 28.82%, 
respectively, while the same metric went up only 8.27% and 20.03% 
for software developers and programmers and network and computer 
system administrators, respectively.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Based on the revised estimate of the traditional annual PRA burden 
(as described in Part 2 above), and the estimate of the additional ID-
related annual PRA burden described in the earlier sections of this 
Part, the PRA burden and cost for all filers (without including a 
technology component) are described in Table 9 and Table 10 below, 
respectively.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN14MY20.030

    Based on the proportions described in Table 8 above, the 
traditional and ID-related annual PRA costs of fully-automated filers 
estimated in Table 10 (the ``Table 10 PRA cost'') constitute 85% of the 
total annual PRA cost of reporting and recordkeeping incurred by such 
filers, with the remaining 15% of costs corresponding to the 
technology-related PRA cost (i.e., maintenance, updates and upgrades of 
software, general information technology support, and hardware 
replacement). To estimate the total annual PRA costs for fully-
automated filers to file CTRs (a calculation that adds the cost of the 
traditional and ID-related annual PRA burden to the newly estimated 
technology-related PRA cost), FinCEN discounts the Table 10 PRA cost by 
its contribution to the total annual PRA cost ($16,571,966/0.85), 
resulting in a total annual PRA cost for fully-automated filers of 
$19,496,430.
    Determining the hourly burden of some cost components of the 
technology-related annual PRA burden, such as the price of new 
hardware, is not straightforward. The method FinCEN followed to 
estimate the technology-related annual PRA cost does not provide a 
definitive way for deriving the burden hours attributable to each cost 
component. To produce such an estimate, FinCEN would have needed 
information not provided in the 2008 Survey (such as the participation 
of different levels of technology-related labor and their fully-loaded 
compensation rates). FinCEN, however, believes that it is appropriate 
to estimate the total annual PRA hourly burden for fully-automated 
filers using a calculation similar to the one employed for the total 
annual PRA cost. FinCEN stipulates that the traditional and ID-related 
PRA burden for fully-automated filers set out in Table 9 above (the 
``Table 9 PRA burden'') also constitutes 85% of the total annual PRA 
burden of such filers. FinCEN discounts the Table 9 PRA burden by its 
contribution to the total annual PRA burden (644,072 hours/0.85), and 
arrives at a total annual

[[Page 29029]]

PRA burden for fully-automated filers of 757,732 hours.\22\ This equals 
the sum of the traditional annual PRA burden and the ID-related annual 
PRA burden (644,072 hours or 38,644,260 minutes), and the technology-
related annual PRA burden (113,660 hours or 6,819,583 minutes).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \22\ This calculation uses the cost per burden hour estimate of 
$25.73 per hour derived through the previous estimates even though 
the costs per hour in the context of maintaining, updating, and 
upgrading the hardware and software are different. Of importance 
here is FinCEN's confidence in the overall costs reflected in this 
assessment, even if there is less confidence in the notional number 
of burden hours associated with the supplemental cost.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the future, FinCEN intends to conduct studies of the filing 
population to more accurately estimate the contribution of technology-
related costs to the total annual PRA burden. These future studies will 
incorporate a more granular breakdown of the degree of automation among 
CTR filers, and may result in significant variations of the estimated 
annual PRA burden. Among other things, FinCEN will need to segregate 
the technology costs associated exclusively with BSA reporting, 
recordkeeping, and monitoring requirements, from the technology costs 
involved in (i) complying with other regulatory frameworks, and/or (ii) 
processing data used for the filer's other business purposes.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden: The average estimated 
PRA burden, measured in minutes per report, is 8 minutes, as described 
in Table 11 below:
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN14MY20.031

    Estimated Number of Respondents: 14,276 financial institutions.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \23\ See Part 1-Table 1 for a breakdown of the types of 
financial institutions that filed CTRs in 2019. Note that all banks, 
casinos and card clubs, MSBs, brokers or dealers in securities, 
mutual funds, futures commissions merchants and introducing brokers 
in commodities are required to comply with the CTR regulatory 
requirement, however, not all financial institutions conduct 
transactions that would trigger the CTR filing requirements. See 31 
CFR 1020.310 (banks), 31 CFR 1021.310 (casinos and card clubs), 31 
CFR 1022.310 (MSBs), 31 CFR 1023.310 (brokers or dealers in 
securities), 31 CFR 1024.310 (mutual funds), and 31 CFR 1026.310 
(futures commissions merchants and introducing brokers in 
commodities).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 16,087,182.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \24\ Numbers are based on actual 2019 filings as reported by the 
BSA E-Filing System as of 12/31/2019. This number reflects the total 
number of filings for both the legacy CTR and CTRC and the new 
FinCEN Report 112--CTR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden: The 
estimated total annual PRA burden is 2,124,992 hours, as described in 
Table 12 below.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN14MY20.032

    Estimated Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost: At the 
weighted average hourly cost of $25.73 described in Table 6 above, the 
cost of the estimated total annual PRA reflected in Table 12 (2,124,992 
hours) is $54,676,044.
    An Agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of 
information displays a valid OMB control number. Records required to be 
retained under the BSA must be retained for five years.

Request for Comments

a. Specific Requests for Comments
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will 
become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on the 
calculation of the total PRA burden of filing the CTR, under the 
current regulatory requirements. Specifically, comments are invited on 
the following issues:
    1. FinCEN has broken down the process required to comply with the 
CTR requirement into several steps, from identifying a transaction that 
must be reported, to maintaining and upgrading software required for 
the completion, submission, and storage of the report. In general, do 
these steps reflect the filer's own general experience? Is there a need 
to include a more granular breakdown of the process to describe what, 
on average, a CTR filer must do?
    2. For purposes of calculating PRA burden and cost, FinCEN has 
taken the 2019 CTR submissions number as a baseline, stipulating that 
it is an

[[Page 29030]]

appropriate representation of the expected composition of the filing 
population and report submissions for the next three years. Is that an 
appropriate assumption? Are there expected changes in either the 
composition of the filing population or the breakdown of the report 
submissions over the next three years that should be factored into 
FinCEN's estimates?
    3. FinCEN estimates that, on average, the time involved in the 
reporting of a CTR varies in accordance with the range of the total 
number of reports filed per year (i.e., filers filing 100 reports or 
more per week are totally automated), the type of financial institution 
and type of transaction (i.e., depository financial institutions 
engaging in reportable currency transactions that only involve 
established customers), and filing method (i.e., completion of reports 
filed on a discrete basis generally involve more manual data entry than 
those batch-filed, regardless of the filer's level of automation). Are 
these assumptions reasonable? Are there other factors that may affect 
the amount of time involved in preparing, reviewing, and filing the 
report, which FinCEN could quantify by analyzing the contents of the 
BSA database and without conducting a formal survey of the reporting 
financial institutions?
    4. FinCEN estimates that the completion, review, and submission of 
a CTR will demand a certain number of minutes per report, depending on 
the factors listed above. On average, is the estimated number of 
minutes per report reasonable, by degree of automation of the filer, 
type of financial institution the filer is, method of filing, types of 
financial institution labor positions involved, and allocated time per 
labor position?
    5. FinCEN estimates that, on average, the cost of labor involved in 
the completion, review, and submission of a CTR will depend on at least 
three different levels of staff involvement within the filer's 
organization (i.e., remote supervision, direct supervision, and 
operations) participating in the process for different portions of the 
CTR process. On average, is the allocation of time and hourly cost plus 
benefits per organizational level reasonable? Has FinCEN identified the 
right level of involvement and the right type of labor position per 
role?
    6. FinCEN estimated the ID-related PRA burden by stipulating that 
depository institutions conduct reportable transactions only with 
established customers, while non-depository institutions conduct 
transactions with non-established customers. Is this stipulation 
reasonable? Is there another factor that would allow FinCEN to 
determine when a non-depository institution conducts a transaction with 
an established customer, and therefore its ID-related PRA cost is lower 
than the current estimate? FinCEN allocated an ID-related PRA cost of 
three minutes to persons conducting a transaction on behalf of another, 
for any type of financial institution. Is this allocation always 
required, or are there instances where the filer has already obtained, 
verified, and retained the personal data of the transactor, and 
therefore the allocation could be lower, or even eliminated altogether?
    7. FinCEN estimated the technology-related PRA burden on the 
assumption that, on average, the percentage breakdown of the total cost 
among different cost factors is mostly constant among analogous 
reporting obligations. Based on a previous industry survey, FinCEN 
based the estimates of total annual PRA burden on the premise that 
traditional and ID-related annual PRA costs amount to 85% of the total 
annual PRA cost of fully-automated filers, while software, hardware, 
and systems-related costs, including maintenance, updates and upgrades 
represent the remaining 15%. Is there existing evidence that may 
indicate that one or both of these assumptions are not reasonable? Is 
there another factor or combination of factors that would assist FinCEN 
in determining which filers that file fewer than 100 reports a week may 
also be fully or partially automated, and therefore adjust the 
technology-related PRA cost?
    8. The estimate of the technology-related PRA burden relies on the 
principle that the system maintenance, hardware maintenance and 
replacement, and other technological costs included in the estimate 
relate to hardware and software resources used exclusively for CTR 
filing. If such resources are used for multiple purposes, only a 
fraction of their cost that represents their use for complying with 
this BSA obligation should be included in the PRA burden estimate. Is 
this assumption correct? Is this assumption provable by objective 
methods? Has your financial institution determined what percentage of 
its technology is used for CTR purposes? How can FinCEN determine which 
resources, if any, are used for purposes other than BSA compliance, and 
therefore adjust the PRA estimate?
    9. Please provide any other comments on calculation methods, 
assumptions, stipulations, or any other issues that may impact the 
total PRA burden calculation of the regulations or the report.
b. General Request for Comments
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will 
become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 
the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance 
of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) estimates 
of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and 
purchase of services to provide information.

    Dated: May 8, 2020.
Derek Baldry,
Deputy Chief of Staff, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2020-10310 Filed 5-13-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-02-P