Financial institution.

§ 566.306 Financial institution. The term financial institution means: (a) An insured bank (as defined in section 3(h) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(h)); (b) A commercial bank or trust company; (c) A private banker; (d) An agency or branch of a foreign bank in the United States; (e) Any credit union; (f) A thrift institution; (g) A broker or dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq. ); (h) A broker or dealer in securities or commodities; (i) An investment banker or investment company; (j) A currency exchange; (k) An issuer, redeemer, or cashier of travelers' checks, checks, money orders, or similar instruments; (l) An insurance company; (m) A dealer in precious metals, stones, or jewels; (n) A loan or finance company; (o) A licensed sender of money or any other person who engages as a business in the transmission of funds including any person who engages as a business in an informal money transfer system or any network of people who engage as a business in facilitating the transfer of money domestically or internationally outside of the conventional financial institutions system; (p) A business engaged in vehicle sales, including automobile, airplane, and boat sales; (q) Any business or agency which engages in any activity which the Secretary of the Treasury determines, by regulation, to be an activity which is similar to, related to, or a substitute for any activity in which any business described in this paragraph is authorized to engage; or (r) Any other business designated by the Secretary whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters.