United States

Requires covered financial institutions to identify and verify beneficial owners of legal-entity customers, understand the nature and purpose of customer relationships, and conduct ongoing monitoring — the 'fourth pillar' of the US AML program.

Enacted after 9/11, Title III significantly expanded US AML law: mandatory customer identification programs (CIP), special due diligence for correspondent and private banking accounts, prohibition of shell-bank relationships, and expanded information sharing under sections 314(a) and 314(b).

The foundation of the US AML regime. It requires financial institutions to keep records and file reports — including currency transaction reports and suspicious activity reports — and, as amended (notably by the USA PATRIOT Act and the AML Act of 2020), to maintain risk-based AML programs.