A Filing Instruction Is the Easy Part of FIN-2026-A002

FinCEN issued Advisory FIN-2026-A002 on June 4, 2026, urging financial institutions to be vigilant against financial crime risks connected to the unlawful employment of non-work-authorized individuals. The advisory carries a specific SAR filing instruction: use the key term FINANCIALINTEGRITY-2026-A002 in SAR field 2 and the narrative. If your BSA team has not updated its filing protocols, that is the first action.

The advisory identifies six categories of suspicious activity: payroll tax evasion by employers or labor brokers; use of foreign identity documents, nominee accounts, or shell companies to conceal beneficial ownership; unregistered money services businesses and third-party processors used for off-the-books wage payments designed to bypass BSA reporting thresholds; structuring correlated with payroll cycles; labor trafficking indicators where illicit proceeds are commingled with legitimate revenue; and use of ITINs to obtain credit or open accounts without verified lawful immigration status.

This advisory is not a standalone document. It is the first output of Executive Order 14406, signed May 19, 2026, which established a compressed regulatory sequence. The Treasury Advisory on red-flag typologies is due by mid-July. Proposed CDD rule changes follow by mid-August. CIP rule changes, including the Matricula Consular identification document, follow by mid-November. Institutions that treat this as a one-time SAR protocol update will be behind the curve before summer ends.

The compliance program implication connects directly to the proposed AML/CFT Program Rule. Once the Treasury Advisory is published, its typologies become AML/CFT priorities that institutions must incorporate into their risk assessments. A program that fails to respond to known risk-profile changes may no longer be deemed reasonably designed. Under the proposed rule, that is not a technical deficiency. This is a failure to establish an effective program.

In my experience advising financial institutions, fintechs, and other firms on BSA program design and independent testing, the gap that creates examination findings is almost never a gap in policy. It is a gap between policy and practice. An advisory with a specific filing instruction and a six-category typology list is a precise signal. The response needs to be equally precise.

If your institution has not reviewed its risk assessments, transaction monitoring scenarios and SAR filing protocols against this advisory, that review is worth prioritizing before your next examination cycle. I am happy to discuss steps to take in practice.