Rule2026-00449
Geographic Targeting Order Imposing Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements on Certain Financial Institutions in Minnesota
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 13, 2026
Effective
February 12, 2026
Issuing agencies
Treasury DepartmentFinancial Crimes Enforcement Network
Abstract
FinCEN is issuing this Geographic Targeting Order, requiring banks and money transmitters located in the Counties of Hennepin and Ramsey, Minnesota to retain and report records of certain payments of $3,000 or more.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 8 (Tuesday, January 13, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 13, 2026)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 1246-1248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-00449]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
31 CFR Part 1010
Geographic Targeting Order Imposing Recordkeeping and Reporting
Requirements on Certain Financial Institutions in Minnesota
AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Treasury.
ACTION: Order.
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SUMMARY: FinCEN is issuing this Geographic Targeting Order, requiring
banks and money transmitters located in the Counties of Hennepin and
Ramsey, Minnesota to retain and report records of certain payments of
$3,000 or more.
DATES: This action is effective February 12, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FinCEN's Regulatory Support Section by
submitting an inquiry at <a href="http://www.fincen.gov/contact">www.fincen.gov/contact</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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
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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 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\
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\1\ The BSA is codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b and 1951-1960, and 31
U.S.C. 5311-5314 and 5316-5336, and includes notes thereto, with
implementing regulations at 31 CFR chapter X.
\2\ 31 U.S.C. 5326(a); see also 31 CFR 1010.370.
\3\ Id.
\4\ 31 U.S.C. 5326(d); see also 31 CFR 1010.370(d)(1).
\5\ Treasury Order 180-01 (Reaffirmed Jan. 14, 2020); see also
31 U.S.C. 310(b)(2)(I) (providing that the Director of FinCEN shall
``[a]dminister the requirements of subchapter II of chapter 53 of
this title, chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91-508, and section
21 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, to the extent delegated
such authority by the Secretary'').
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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
international money laundering of the proceeds of government benefits
fraud in Minnesota. The Order does not alter any existing BSA
obligation of a Covered Business (as defined in the Order), except as
otherwise set out in the Order itself.
II. Geographic Targeting Order
A. Businesses and Transactions Covered by This Order
1. For purposes of this Order, a ``Covered Business'' means any
bank, as defined in 31 CFR 1010.100(d), or a money transmitter, as
defined in 31 CFR 1010.100(ff)(5), with a branch, subsidiary, or office
located in the Covered Geographic Area.
2. For purposes of this Order, a ``Covered Transaction'' means each
funds transfer for which records are required to be retained under
either 31 CFR 1020.410(a) or 31 CFR 1010.410(e), and for which a
corresponding payment order or transmittal order is accepted by the
Covered Business as an originator's bank or transmittor's financial
institution:
a. Where the originator or transmittor provides an address in the
Covered Geographic Area;
b. Where the originator or transmittor is not a company publicly
traded on an exchange regulated by the Securities and Exchange
Commission;
c. Where the originator or transmittor is not a financial
institution subject to anti-money laundering program requirements under
the BSA; and
d. Either the beneficiary or recipient is located outside of the
United States or the financial institution used by the beneficiary or
recipient to receive the funds is located outside of the United States.
3. For purposes of this Order, the ``Covered Geographic Area''
means Hennepin County and Ramsey County, Minnesota.
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. The Covered Business shall report Covered Transactions to FinCEN
through the Financial Industry (FI) Portal, available at <a href="http://fincen.gov/resources/financial-institutions">fincen.gov/resources/financial-institutions</a>. Covered Businesses may access the FI
Portal using their <a href="http://Login.gov">Login.gov</a> account, and requesting ``Financial
Industry Access'' at <a href="http://ois.fincen.gov/accessrequest">ois.fincen.gov/accessrequest</a>. When submitting,
select ``Special Measures'' as the file type and enter ``FIN-62904-
L4N7T.'' For any technical questions or issues regarding FinCEN's FI
Portal, please visit <a href="http://fiportal.fincen.gov/contact-us">fiportal.fincen.gov/contact-us</a> or contact
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#02646b6c61676c637272716a6642646b6c61676c2c656d74"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="72141b1c11171c130202011a1632141b1c11171c5c151d04">[email protected]</span></a>.
6. All submissions shall be saved as a Comma Separate Value (CSV)
file prior to submission and adhere to the Minnesota Fraud GTO
Submission Template, available at <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/2026-01/minnesota-fraud-gto-submission.csv">https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/2026-01/minnesota-fraud-gto-submission.csv</a>, for which additional
information may be found in the Minnesota Fraud GTO Template
Dictionary, available at <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/2026-01/minnesota-fraud-gto-template-dictionary.pdf">https://www.fincen.gov/system/files/2026-01/minnesota-fraud-gto-template-dictionary.pdf</a>. Data file names should use
the format FilerName_TransactionYearMonth_File#ofTotal#_MNGTO2026.csv.
7. If the Covered Business is a bank, the Covered Business shall
report all information required to be retained under 31 CFR
1020.410(a)(1) and (2), along with the following (regardless of whether
the information is provided with the payment order), for which the
Covered Business may rely upon information provided by the originator,
absent knowledge of facts that would reasonably call into question the
reliability of the information provided, by the end of the month
following the month in which the Covered Transaction took place:
a. The name and employer identification number of the Covered
Business;
b. The account number of the originator;
c. The name of the beneficiary;
d. The address of the beneficiary;
e. The date of birth of the beneficiary;
f. A phone number of the beneficiary;
g. An email address of the beneficiary;
h. The account number of the beneficiary;
i. Whether the source of funds for the transfer includes payments
that are from any federal, state, or local government contract or
benefit program; and
j. If the answer to question (i) is yes, whether those payments are
from government agencies to entities in which the originator has any
ownership interest.
8. If the Covered Business is a money transmitter, the Covered
Business shall report all information required to be retained under 31
CFR 1010.410(e)(1) and (2), along with the following (regardless of
whether the information is provided with the transmittal order), for
which the Covered Business may rely upon information provided by the
transmittor, absent knowledge of facts that would reasonably call into
question the reliability of the information provided, by the end of the
month following the month in which the Covered Transaction took place:
a. The name and employer identification number of the Covered
Business;
b. The name of the recipient;
c. The address of the recipient;
d. The date of birth of the recipient;
e. A phone number of the recipient;
f. An email address of the recipient;
g. Whether the transmittal was sourced from currency, check, credit
or debit card, or other;
h. Whether the source of funds for the transfer includes payments
that are from any federal, state, or local government contract or
benefit program;
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i. If the answer to question (h) is yes, whether those payments are
from government agencies to entities in which the transmittor has any
ownership interest;
j. The form of transmittal (wire, convertible virtual currency
transmission, ledger entry, or other); and
k. If the transmittal is a ledger entry that tracks credits and
debits with hawaladars located internationally, whether the money
transmitter uses cash couriers to settle those debits.
C. Order Period
The terms of this Order are effective February 12, 2026 and ending
August 10, 2026.
D. Retention of Records
The Covered Business must: (1) retain all reports filed to comply
with this Order and any other records relating to compliance with this
Order for a period of five years from the last day that this Order is
effective (including any renewals of this Order); (2) store all such
records in a manner accessible within a reasonable period of time; and
(3) make such records available to FinCEN, or any other appropriate law
enforcement or regulatory agency, upon request, in accordance with
applicable law.
E. No Effect on Other Provision of the BSA or Its Implementing
Regulations
Nothing in this Order otherwise modifies or affects any provision
of the BSA or the regulations implementing the BSA to the extent not
expressly stated herein.
F. Confidentiality
This Order is being publicly issued, and its terms are not
confidential.
G. Compliance
The Covered Business must supervise, and is responsible for,
compliance by each of its officers, directors, employees, and agents
with the terms of this Order. The Covered Business must transmit this
Order to each of its agents located in the Covered Geographic Area. The
Covered Business must also transmit this Order to its Chief Executive
Officer or other similarly acting manager.
H. Penalties for Noncompliance
The Covered Business, and any of its officers, directors,
employees, and agents, may be liable, without limitation, for civil or
criminal penalties for willfully violating any of the terms of this
Order.
I. Validity of Order
Any judicial determination that any provision of this Order is
invalid shall not affect the validity of any other provision of this
Order, and each other provision shall thereafter remain in full force
and effect. A copy of this Order carries the full force and effect of
an original signed Order.
J. Paperwork Reduction Act
The collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction
Act contained in this Order has been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) and assigned OMB control number 1506-0056.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB
control number.
K. Questions
All questions about the Order should be directed to FinCEN at
<a href="https://www.fincen.gov/contact">https://www.fincen.gov/contact</a>.
(Authority: 31 U.S.C. 5326)
Andrea M. Gacki,
Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2026-00449 Filed 1-12-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-02-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 13, 2026.
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