FinCEN Grants Targeted Relief Under Minnesota Fraud Order

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a limited exemptive relief order for certain financial institutions subject to its Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) covering Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, Minnesota. The GTO, which took effect on 12 February 2026, introduced enhanced recordkeeping and reporting requirements designed to support efforts to combat government benefits fraud.

The targeted relief refines the scope of reporting obligations to ensure that the United States Department of the Treasury collects more actionable and relevant data, while enabling banks to allocate compliance resources toward higher risk transactions. The move reflects a risk based supervisory approach, preserving the integrity of the original anti fraud objectives while addressing operational implementation challenges.

Under the revised framework, banks are exempt from reporting funds transfers involving certain categories of highly regulated entities. This narrow exemption is intended to reduce reporting on lower risk transfers and sharpen the focus on transactions more closely associated with suspected government benefits fraud. In addition, banks are temporarily exempt until 13 May 2026 from recording or reporting specific information relating to certain account holder customers. This transitional measure applies only to a defined subset of transfers and a limited category of data, allowing institutions additional time to update software and internal systems.

All other provisions of the GTO remain in force. The relief does not extend to money transmitters, which are required to comply fully with the order as originally issued.

FinCEN’s action underscores Treasury’s continued coordination with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to enhance investigative capabilities and generate new leads in fraud cases, while maintaining proportionate and targeted regulatory expectations for covered institutions.

Read the Exemptive Relief Order here.