MSB

“Money Services Business” (MSB) is an umbrella term covering a wide variety of businesses, including money transmitters, check cashers, dealers in foreign exchange (formerly known as currency exchangers and currency dealers), sellers and providers of prepaid access, and issuers, sellers and redeemers of money orders and travelers checks. MSBs are typically required to register with FinCEN and become licensed as money transmitters in the individual states, depending upon the nature of the MSB’s business and the state or states in which it operates, services customers, or has bank accounts. In recent years, both federal and state governments have increased scrutiny of entrepreneurs operating in the payments space.

The money service business experts of Avaxsys represent a wide range of industry participants, including startups creating first-view payment solutions, peer-to-peer payment providers, as well as traditional money transmitters. We also work with issuers who operate under banking charters, with banks that accept MSBs as clients and with program administrators that manage stored-value programs. Our expertise includes

State licensing issues, including license applications and legal opinions regarding state licensing laws;
State and federal compliance audits, including IRS/BSA examinations;
State and federal enforcement actions, including those seeking to impose fines and revoke licenses;
OFAC licensing issues;
Anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act compliance;
Law enforcement and Grand Jury subpoenas and investigations;
White collar criminal defense;
Corporate transactions;
Commercial litigation