Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act Regulations - Imposition of Special Measure Against Commercial Bank of Syria, Including Its Subsidiary, Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, as a Financial Institution of Primary Money Laundering Concern, final rule, 71 Fed. Reg. 13260, 15 March 2006, RIN 1506-AA64; with the notice of proposed rulemaking at 69 Fed. Reg. 28098, 18 May 2004
Source ID
SRC-237
Citation
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act Regulations - Imposition of Special Measure Against Commercial Bank of Syria, Including Its Subsidiary, Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, as a Financial Institution of Primary Money Laundering Concern, final rule, 71 Fed. Reg. 13260, 15 March 2006, RIN 1506-AA64; with the notice of proposed rulemaking at 69 Fed. Reg. 28098, 18 May 2004
Retrieved 17 August 2026 from federalregister.gov, HTTP 200, full text 62,408 characters; FR volume 71 number 50, pages 13260 to 13267, FR Doc 06-2455
Claims
CH6 the section 311 measure against the Commercial Bank of Syria, its grounds and its date
Status
READ_IN_PART
Version history
The register keeps changing after the book is fixed in print. Each entry below was added to this row in the order shown.
READ 17 AUGUST 2026 AT THE PREAMBLE, THE RECITAL OF THE FINDING AND THE OPERATIVE PROVISIONS; the regulatory-flexibility and comment-response sections are reading owed. THIS CLOSES THE BAR RECORDED AT THE CHAPTER 6 SOURCE MAP, THAT THE ORIGINAL SECTION 311 FINDING WAS NOT OPENED AND ITS GROUNDS AND DATE COULD NOT BE STATED. THE TWO DATES. The finding of primary money laundering concern was made in the notice of proposed rulemaking at 69 FR 28098, 18 MAY 2004. The final rule issued at 71 FR 13260 on 15 MARCH 2006 and IS EFFECTIVE ON 14 APRIL 2006. The authority is 31 U.S.C. 5318A of the Bank Secrecy Act, enacted by Title III of the USA PATRIOT Act, Public Law 107-56, signed 26 October 2001. THE GROUNDS, IN THE RULE'S OWN WORDS, AND THEY MATTER TO THIS CHAPTER MORE THAN THE DATE DOES. FinCEN determined that the Commercial Bank of Syria 'had been used as a conduit for the laundering of proceeds generated from the illicit sale of Iraqi oil and had been used by terrorists or persons associated with terrorist organizations'; that 'Any legitimate business use of Commercial Bank of Syria was significantly outweighed by its use to promote or facilitate money laundering and other financial crimes'; that the bank 'is licensed in Syria, a jurisdiction with very limited money laundering controls'; and, expressly, that the bank 'AS A FINANCIAL ENTITY UNDER THE CONTROL OF A DESIGNATED STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM, PROVIDES CAUSE FOR REAL CONCERN ABOUT TERRORIST FINANCING AND MONEY LAUNDERING ACTIVITIES.' THAT LAST GROUND IS THE ONE THE CHAPTER SHOULD NOTICE. THE SURVIVING SECTION 311 MEASURE RESTS IN PART ON THE STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM DESIGNATION WHOSE RESCISSION IS IN TRAIN AT SRC-215. That is a statement about what the 2006 rule recites, not a prediction that the measure will fall, and no such prediction may be written from this row. THE RULE ALSO RECORDS THAT 'Commercial Bank of Syria and Syria did not dispute any of these grounds'. THE MEASURE ITSELF, codified at the time at 31 CFR 103.188 and now at 31 CFR 1010.653 registered at SRC-213, is the fifth special measure and has two limbs. Section 103.188(b)(1) PROHIBITS all covered financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account in the United States for or on behalf of the Commercial Bank of Syria, and requires them to review their records to confirm they hold none. Section 103.188(b)(2) requires DUE DILIGENCE on their other correspondent accounts reasonably designed to guard against INDIRECT use by the bank, including at a minimum notifying their correspondent account holders that the account may not be used to give the Commercial Bank of Syria access. The rule sets out a model notice for that purpose. SO THE MEASURE FINCEN RELIEVED IN MAY 2025 AT SRC-201 WAS NEVER ONLY A PROHIBITION ON ONE ACCOUNT. It also imposed a diligence obligation on every other correspondent relationship a covered institution held, which is why the chapter's point that the finding survives the relief has a cost attached to it.