31 CFR § 551.318 - U.S. financial institution.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t31/s551.318"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "31 CFR § 551.318 - U.S. financial institution."
title_number: 31
title_name: "Money and Finance: Treasury"
section_number: "551.318"
section_name: "U.S. financial institution."
chapter_name: "OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY"
part_number: "551"
part_name: "SOMALIA SANCTIONS REGULATIONS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "3 U.S.C. 301; 31 U.S.C. 321(b); 50 U.S.C. 1601  1701  22 U.S.C. 287c; Pub. L. 101-410, 104 Stat. 890, as amended (28 U.S.C. 2461 note); E.O. 13536, 75 FR 19869, 3 CFR, 2010 Comp., p. 203; E.O. 13620, 77 FR 43483, 3 CFR, 2012 Comp., p. 281."
regulatory_source: "86 FR 22348, Apr. 28, 2021, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "551"
---


# 551.318 U.S. financial institution.

The term *U.S. financial institution* means any U.S. entity (including its foreign branches) that is engaged in the business of accepting deposits, making, granting, transferring, holding, or brokering loans or other extensions of credit, or purchasing or selling foreign exchange, securities, commodity futures or options, or procuring purchasers and sellers thereof, as principal or agent. It includes depository institutions, banks, savings banks, trust companies, securities brokers and dealers, futures and options brokers and dealers, forward contract and foreign exchange merchants, securities and commodities exchanges, clearing corporations, investment companies, employee benefit plans, and U.S. holding companies, U.S. affiliates, or U.S. subsidiaries of any of the foregoing. This term includes those branches, offices, and agencies of foreign financial institutions that are located in the United States, but not such institutions' foreign branches, offices, or agencies.