FinCEN MSB Registrations

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, a money services business must register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the US Treasury’s financial intelligence unit, and renew every two years. Banks check the list before serving one. FinCEN publishes every registration it holds, including those of businesses located abroad that serve US customers. About 33,000 filings from some 32,000 businesses, received since January 2024: who they are, where they are, the services they registered for, the states where they operate, whether they operate abroad, their branches and when the registration was signed and received, and the MSB registration number and registration letter of each filing. Brought up to date as FinCEN updates the list, weekly.

`activity`	FinCEN code	Service
`money_transmitter`	409	Money transmitter
`check_casher`	408	Check casher
`currency_dealer_or_exchanger`	407	Currency dealer or exchanger
`dealer_in_foreign_exchange`	415	Dealer in foreign exchange
`issuer_of_money_orders`	404	Issuer of money orders
`seller_of_money_orders`	405	Seller of money orders
`redeemer_of_money_orders`	406	Redeemer of money orders
`issuer_of_travelers_checks`	401	Issuer of traveler’s checks
`seller_of_travelers_checks`	402	Seller of traveler’s checks
`redeemer_of_travelers_checks`	403	Redeemer of traveler’s checks
`seller_of_prepaid_access`	413	Seller of prepaid access
`provider_of_prepaid_access`	414	Provider of prepaid access
`travelers_checks_sales_or_redemption`	410	Traveler’s checks sales and/or redemption
`money_orders_sales_or_redemption`	411	Money orders sales and/or redemption
`us_postal_service`	412	U.S. Postal Service
`other`	499	Other

The whole source, organized and ready to query: every endpoint on this page answers in milliseconds. Every response carries as_of: how current the data is. How datasets work.

Search registrations

POST /us/fincen/msb-registrations-search/v1 Dataset Searches every registration by any combination of name, service, place and filing date.

Field	Type	Notes
`query`	string	Optional. Words in the legal name or the DBA. Every word must match; no stemming.
`activity`	enum	Optional. A registered service, by the code in the table above, e.g. `money_transmitter`.
`state`	string	Optional. The two-letter state of the business’s address, e.g. `TX`.
`operates_in`	string	Optional. A two-letter US state or territory where the business said it operates, e.g. `FL`.
`country`	string	Optional. For a business located outside the US, its country as FinCEN writes it, e.g. `COLOMBIA`, `MEXICO`, `HONG KONG`.
`operates_abroad`	boolean	Optional. `true` for only the registrations that declare activity outside the US. Default `false`.
`registrant_key`	string	Optional. A registration’s `registrant_key`, to list every filing of that business.
`registration_number`	string	Optional. FinCEN’s 14-digit MSB registration number, as printed on the registration letter.
`from_date`	string	Optional. The earliest date FinCEN received the filing, yyyy-mm-dd.
`to_date`	string	Optional. The latest date FinCEN received the filing, yyyy-mm-dd.
`page`	integer	Optional. 1-based page. Default `1`.
`per_page`	integer	Optional. Results per page, 1-50. Default `20`.

curl https://api.croma.run/us/fincen/msb-registrations-search/v1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CROMA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "query": "remesas", "activity": "money_transmitter" }'

Returns as_of (how current the data is), the applied filters, total (matches across every page), page, per_page, total_pages, count and registrations[], by legal name. Every registration carries id (the key), registrant_key (the same on every filing of one business), legal_name, dba_name, street_address, city, state, zip_code, country (for a business located abroad), activities[] (the table above), activity_codes[] (FinCEN’s codes), states_of_activity[] (two-letter codes), activity_scope (FinCEN’s flag: A all states and territories, B all states, C all territories, D foreign, or a combination), operates_abroad, branches, auth_sign_date, received_date, registration_number (FinCEN’s 14-digit MSB registration number), registration_type (e.g. Initial Registration, Renewal), document_url (our copy of the filing’s registration letter, a PDF) and source_document_url (FinCEN’s link to it when it was read). Empty fields are null. A row is one filing: a business that renewed its registration appears once per filing, and registrant_key lists them together. FinCEN cuts legal names at 50 characters. The registration number and type come from the filing’s registration letter, which is read once after the filing first appears, so a filing received in the last few days may not have them yet. FinCEN’s own link to a letter changes over time; document_url does not.

In FinCEN’s words: “The inclusion of a business in the MSB Registrant Search is not a recommendation, certification of legitimacy, or endorsement of the business by any government agency.” The list reflects only what each registrant told FinCEN, not every registered business is on it, and registration is not a license: money services businesses are licensed by the states.

One registration

POST /us/fincen/msb-registration/v1 Dataset Resolves one registration by its id and returns the full record.

Field	Type	Notes
`id`	string	Required. The registration’s id as returned by the search.

curl https://api.croma.run/us/fincen/msb-registration/v1 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CROMA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "id": "550f01d4ab63c95f" }'

Returns found, id, as_of and registration (null when not found). Every registration carries id (the key), registrant_key (the same on every filing of one business), legal_name, dba_name, street_address, city, state, zip_code, country (for a business located abroad), activities[] (the table above), activity_codes[] (FinCEN’s codes), states_of_activity[] (two-letter codes), activity_scope (FinCEN’s flag: A all states and territories, B all states, C all territories, D foreign, or a combination), operates_abroad, branches, auth_sign_date, received_date, registration_number (FinCEN’s 14-digit MSB registration number), registration_type (e.g. Initial Registration, Renewal), document_url (our copy of the filing’s registration letter, a PDF) and source_document_url (FinCEN’s link to it when it was read). Empty fields are null. A row is one filing: a business that renewed its registration appears once per filing, and registrant_key lists them together. FinCEN cuts legal names at 50 characters. The registration number and type come from the filing’s registration letter, which is read once after the filing first appears, so a filing received in the last few days may not have them yet. FinCEN’s own link to a letter changes over time; document_url does not.

An id the list does not carry returns found: false with HTTP 200, not an error. That is also the answer for a filing that has left the list.

Full reference

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FinCEN MSB Registrations

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Search registrations

One registration