FinCEN Reissues Southwest Border GTO for $1,000–$10,000 Cash Transactions at Money Services Businesses
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on September 2, 2026 reissued a Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) requiring certain money services businesses along the U.S. southwest border to file additional Currency Transaction Reports for specified cash transactions.
The order is aimed at illicit activity and associated money laundering by Mexico-based cartels, drug traffickers and other criminal actors. Covered money services businesses must report cash transactions between $1,000 and $10,000 when the transactions occur in specified ZIP codes in Bernalillo, Doña Ana and San Juan counties in New Mexico, and Cameron, El Paso, Hidalgo, Maverick and Webb counties in Texas.
FinCEN said the reissued GTO will remain effective for 180 days after publication in the Federal Register. The enhanced reporting is intended to give local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies more transaction data to identify financial flows linked to drug trafficking and related laundering activity.
The September order continues a southwest-border reporting regime that FinCEN has adjusted during 2026. Earlier versions lowered the reporting threshold for covered money services businesses and expanded geographic coverage. FinCEN’s March 2026 guidance explained that covered businesses were required to file reports for qualifying cash transactions of $1,000 or more, with a 30-day filing deadline under that phase of the GTO.
The latest reissuance keeps the focus on cash activity outside the formal banking sector and on locations that FinCEN considers particularly exposed to cartel-linked financial flows. It is a targeted reporting measure under the Bank Secrecy Act rather than a general change to the nationwide Currency Transaction Report threshold.
For money services businesses operating in the covered areas, the practical compliance issue is therefore geographic and transaction-specific: firms need to identify whether a location falls within the listed ZIP codes, apply the lower GTO reporting threshold to qualifying cash transactions, and maintain processes capable of producing timely reports for FinCEN.
