American Land Title Association Applauds Passage of National Defense Authorization Act With Beneficial Ownership Amendment

WASHINGTON - December 11, 2020 - (Newswire.com)

The American Land Title Association (ALTA), commended Congress for passing the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a beneficial ownership amendment designed to help limit money laundering and other criminal activity. The legislation would require companies and LLCs to file beneficial ownership information with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at the time the entity is created and update the info yearly.

“A requirement for companies to report their beneficial ownership to a national repository will help law enforcement identify and combat the use of real estate in money laundering without creating new compliance burdens,” said Diane Tomb, chief executive officer of ALTA. “This is integral for efforts to modernize the United States anti-money laundering rules and to help countering the financing of terrorist activity. Financial institutions with customer due diligence obligations will be able to access the FinCEN data with their customers' permission. This could help streamline reporting burdens of title insurance companies and give them more assurance that the information they report under Geographic Targeting Orders is accurate.”

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About ALTA

The American Land Title Association, founded in 1907, is a national trade association representing more than 6,400 title insurance companies, title and settlement agents, independent abstracters, title searchers and real estate attorneys. ALTA members conduct title searches, examinations, closings and issue title insurance that protects real property owners and mortgage lenders against losses from defects in titles.

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Original Source: American Land Title Association Applauds Passage of National Defense Authorization Act With Beneficial Ownership Amendment