The Financial Privacy Act of 2025 aims to increase transparency and oversight of financial data collection by requiring annual reports to Congress, reviewing agency access protocols, and safeguarding Americans' financial privacy.
Warren Davidson
Representative
OH-8
The Financial Privacy Act of 2025 aims to increase transparency and oversight of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) data collection practices. It mandates the Secretary of the Treasury to provide annual reports to Congress detailing the types and volume of financial reports collected, agency access protocols, and any instances of denied access. The Act also requires annual review and revision of these protocols to better tailor information collection to legitimate objectives, prevent unauthorized disclosures, and protect the legal rights of U.S. persons. Finally, the act repeals section 5327 of title 31, United States Code, 7 years after the enactment of this Act.
Financial Privacy Act of 2025: New Reporting Rules for FinCEN's Data Collection, Access, and Privacy Protocols
The Financial Privacy Act of 2025 aims to shine a brighter light on how the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) collects and shares Americans' financial data. This bill mandates annual reports to Congress detailing the volume and types of reports FinCEN gathers, how many reports they hold onto, and how other government agencies access this information. Think of it like a yearly check-up on who's looking at your financial records and why.
Digging Into the Details
The bill requires the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the number of reports filed with FinCEN since 2022, categorized by type (SEC. 3). This includes things like Currency Transaction Reports, Suspicious Activity Reports, and Form 8300 Reports. The Treasury must also disclose how many of these reports FinCEN actually keeps. FinCEN currently retains over 322,000,000 Currency Transaction Reports, more than 36,000,000 Suspicious Activity Reports, and nearly 5,000,000 Form 8300 Reports (SEC. 2).
Who's Watching the Watchmen?
Crucially, the bill focuses on oversight. It demands a description of any written protocols governing how national security, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies access, retain, and share the information held by FinCEN (SEC. 3). The number of times these agencies query FinCEN's data will also be reported, along with any instances where access was denied or revoked. This is like finding out who's been peeking behind the curtain and making sure they have a good reason.
Balancing Privacy and Security
The bill requires an annual review of these protocols, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General. The goal? To better tailor data collection to legitimate law enforcement and national security needs, while also protecting the legal rights, civil liberties, and privacy of U.S. citizens (SEC. 3). This means finding a balance between catching bad actors and not snooping on innocent people's financial lives. It's like making sure the cops have the tools they need, but also ensuring they're not overstepping their bounds.
Long-Term Changes
Seven years after the bill's enactment, it repeals section 5327 of title 31, United States Code (SEC. 3). This means that the legal provision that currently governs certain aspects of financial reporting will be removed, potentially leading to significant changes in the future. It's like setting a timer on a specific rule, giving everyone time to adjust before it disappears.