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.

In March 2006, FinCEN issued a final rule imposing the fifth special measure to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for, or on behalf of, the Commercial Bank of Syria, and requires that U.S. financial institutions apply due diligence to correspondent accounts they maintain on behalf of foreign financial institutions that is reasonably designed to guard against the indirect use of those accounts by the Commercial Bank of Syria. 31 C.F.R. § 1010.653(b)(2). U.S. financial institutions are required under 31 C.F.R. § 1010.653(b)(2)(i)(A) to notify their foreign correspondent account holders that they may not provide Commercial Bank of Syria with access to correspondent accounts maintained at the U.S. financial institution. The requirement is intended to ensure cooperation from correspondent account holders in denying Commercial Bank of Syria access to the U.S. financial system. U.S. financial institutions are required under 31 C.F.R. § 1010.653(b)(3)(i) to document compliance with the notification requirement. The information is used by Federal agencies and certain self-regulatory organizations to verify compliance with 31 CFR § 1010.653.

The latest form for 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. expires 2026-07-31 and can be found here.