In FinCEN’s enforcement actions against Trump Taj Mahal and Ripple Labs Inc., FinCEN required the financial institutions to hire a “third-party reviewer” to evaluate the companies’ BSA compliance programs. This appears to mark a language change at FinCEN over the past few months. 
In previous enforcement actions, FinCEN often referred to these outside monitors as “independent consultants.” In fact, just this January FinCEN required Oppenheimer & Co. to provide FinCEN with “any reports or other recommendations prepared by any Independent Consultant retained to review and provide recommendations for certain aspects of its compliance program, including its AML program.” The SEC had required Oppenheimer to retain an independent consultant as part of its related civil enforcement action.
Independent consultants have long been a source of controversy. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has called for greater oversight by regulators because independent consultants often do other work for financial institutions, and there was a fear that banking regulators were outsourcing their oversight duties to private companies. Brown held a hearing on this issue in 2013.
It remains to be seen whether FinCEN has adopted a language change (in the FCPA context, these post-settlement watchdogs are often referred to as a “monitor”). Based on the recent enforcement actions, while the name may be changing, the tasks (and expense to financial institutions) appear to be remaining the same.