On July 21, 2025, to much welcome relief by investment advisers, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced its postponement of the effective date of its recently issued anti-money laundering rule (IA AML Rule) from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028. The IA AML Rule requires certain registered investment advisers to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). For the first time, these covered investment advisors are classified as “financial institutions” under the BSA.

Covered Investment Advisers. The final AML Rule expanded the definition of “financial institution” under the BSA to include SEC registered investment advisers and exempt reporting advisers, with certain exceptions, (Covered IAs). Covered IAs do not include the following investment advisors: 1) RIAs that register with the SEC solely because they are (i) mid-sized advisers; (ii) multi-state advisers; or (iii) pension consultants, 2) RIAs that do not report any assets under management on their Form ADV, and 3) state-registered advisers.

Applicability of the Rule. Under the IA AML Rule, Covered IAs must establish an AML program that addresses the following:

  • AML/CFT program: Implementation of risk-based policies, procedures and internal controls reasonably designed to prevent the Covered IA from being used for money laundering, terrorist financing, or other illicit finance activities;
  • Compliance Officer: Designation of a compliance officer responsible for implementing and monitoring the operations and internal controls of the AML/CFT program;
  • Independent Testing: Implementation of a process for independent compliance testing of the AML program; and
  • Training: Establishment of ongoing training for appropriate persons.

Interim Period of the IA AML Rule Delay. FinCEN indicated that during the interim period of the delayed effective date, it plans to revisit the scope of the IA AML Rule. FinCEN also intends to revisit the proposed updates to the customer due diligence (CDD) rule establishing customer identification program requirements for Covered IAs, which had been jointly proposed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2024 but had not been finalized to date.

During this interim period of the delayed effective date, Covered IAs should prepare for what the IA AML Rule will potentially mandate by

  • Continuing to monitor regulatory updates on the issue;
  • Considering potential requirements and their implementations, including CDD, AML onboarding practices and oversight, suspicious activity reporting, vendor due diligence, etc.
  • Ongoing review of disclosures in investor documents and regulatory filings to ensure alignment with the IA AML Rule and the Covered IAs policies and procedures.

Thompson Hine will continue to monitor the situation and post if there are any changes, and, of course, if you have any questions, please reach out to us.