The Treasury Department’s new whistleblower portal is likely to increase enforcement risks for companies that must comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, US sanctions, and beyond.
The portal, launched Feb. 13 by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, creates a centralized channel for reporting possible violations of the BSA. It’s the latest component of a cross-agency push to enhance and expand federal financial misconduct reporting and investigations. It follows President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order targeting alleged fraud, waste, and abuse through financial institutions.
Although FinCEN framed the portal’s launch around recent fraud allegations in Minnesota, the scope of covered conduct is far broader. It is thus likely to have knock-on effects beyond BSA and US sanctions enforcement, as portal submissions outside FinCEN’s jurisdiction are forwarded to other agencies for investigation and enforcement.
The takeaway is that companies with BSA and sanctions compliance obligations should consider making their internal whistleblower programs more accessible, ensure compliance policies are applied consistently, conduct robust internal investigations as appropriate for substantiated reports of misconduct, provide periodic training, and perform independent compliance testing, among other actions.
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