What's New? FinCEN issues final rule reducing requirements for Beneficial Ownership reporting

On February 13, 2026, FinCEN issued a final rule that grants exceptive relief from the requirements in 31 C.F.R. § 1010.230(b), which previously required covered financial institutions to identify and verify the beneficial owners of legal entity customers at each new account opening. The ruling changes these requirements by allowing institutions to limit identification and verification to three broad scenarios instead of every time an account is opened.

For details see the final rule and our section in the Gold Book.