---
kind: "section"
citation: "31 C.F.R. § 566.306"
title: "31"
number: "566.306"
heading: "Financial institution."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/31/566.306"
---

# §566.306. Financial institution.


The term financial institution means:

- (a) An insured bank (as defined in section 3(h) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act ([12 U.S.C. 1813(h)](/usc/12/1813.md?p=h));
- (b) A commercial bank or trust company;
- (c) A private banker;
- (d) An agency or branch of a foreign bank in the United States;
- (e) Any credit union;
- (f) A thrift institution;
- (g) A broker or dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ([15 U.S.C. 78a](/usc/15/78a.md) et seq.);
- (h) A broker or dealer in securities or commodities;
- (i) An investment banker or investment company;
- (j) A currency exchange;
- (k) An issuer, redeemer, or cashier of travelers' checks, checks, money orders, or similar instruments;
- (l) An insurance company;
- (m) A dealer in precious metals, stones, or jewels;
- (n) A loan or finance company;
- (o) A licensed sender of money or any other person who engages as a business in the transmission of funds including any person who engages as a business in an informal money transfer system or any network of people who engage as a business in facilitating the transfer of money domestically or internationally outside of the conventional financial institutions system;
- (p) A business engaged in vehicle sales, including automobile, airplane, and boat sales;
- (q) Any business or agency which engages in any activity which the Secretary of the Treasury determines, by regulation, to be an activity which is similar to, related to, or a substitute for any activity in which any business described in this paragraph is authorized to engage; or
- (r) Any other business designated by the Secretary whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters.

## Notes

### Authority

Authority: 3 U.S.C. 301; 31 U.S.C. 321(b); 50 U.S.C. 1601-1651, 1701-1706; Pub. L. 101-410, 104 Stat. 890, as amended (28 U.S.C. 2461 note); Pub. L. 114-102, 129 Stat. 2205 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note); Pub. L. 115-272, 132 Stat. 4144 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note).

### Source

Source: 81 FR 22186, Apr. 15, 2016, unless otherwise noted.