The final rule requires certain US financial institutions to apply due diligence to correspondent accounts maintained for certain foreign financial institutions. US financial institutions have until now been operating under interim provisions.

The updated rule takes effect within 90 days for new accounts opened by US financial institutions and 270 days for existing accounts from the date the regulation is published in the Federal Register.

Section 312 of the USA PATRIOT Act requires US financial institutions to perform due diligence and, in some cases, enhanced due diligence, with regard to correspondent accounts established or maintained for foreign financial institutions and private banking accounts established or maintained for non-US persons.

“This rule reflects a significant milestone in our continued progress towards adding transparency to the financial system to help safeguard it from the financing of terror and other illicit money flows,” observed William J. Fox, Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The US administration is currently struggling to gain an extension of the PATRIOT Act in Congress, since the Act will expire at the end of 2006, and it is not clear what will happen to the various sets of rules issued under the Act if it expires.