Write a PREreview

The August 2024 FinCEN final rule extending anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism obligations to SEC-registered investment advisers (89 Fed. Reg. 72,156) creates an underexamined compliance problem for the advisers now subject to its requirements. Although the rule's effective date was subsequently delayed to January 1, 2028, and FinCEN has indicated it will revisit the rule's scope, the underlying data obligations remain operative for compliance planning purposes. Advisers with Brazilian client exposure must simultaneously satisfy Bank Secrecy Act customer identification and suspicious activity reporting obligations and Brazil's Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD), Law No. 13,709/2018. These two frameworks impose conflicting obligations on data collection, retention, and cross-border transfer that existing compliance guidance does not resolve. This paper identifies the specific conflicts, analyzes the legal basis for each, and proposes a bilateral compliance framework that satisfies both regulatory regimes without requiring advisers to choose between them. The analysis draws on the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue Action Plan 2024–2025, which identifies privacy and data protection as a priority area for bilateral cooperation, and argues that the resolution of this compliance gap is both operationally necessary and consistent with stated bilateral policy objectives.