FinCEN has issued answers to two new FAQs and updated one existing FAQ on using state-issued mobile driver's licences and other government-issued verifiable digital credentials to verify customers' identities, the agency said on 8 September 2026.
The FAQs cover how such credentials may be used to verify the identities of natural person customers under the Customer Identification Program (CIP) Rule. The CIP Rule neither requires nor prohibits reliance on government-issued digital credentials. An unexpired one, such as an mDL, qualifies as government-issued identification if it evidences nationality or residence and bears a photograph or similar safeguard, and the institution has the systems to extract the information.
If a credential shows indications of fraud, the bank or credit union must consider that in deciding whether it can form a reasonable belief that it knows the customer’s true identity. For credentials issued by a non-government third party, the institution is responsible for ensuring the third party uses the same level of authentication it would use itself.
The Federal Reserve said the answers “do not alter existing BSA legal or regulatory requirements or establish new supervisory expectations.”
They were issued jointly with staff from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
FinCEN is the US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.