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Banks to Fight On for Transaction Reporting Relief After Government Study is Released
By Matt Squire
printBank lobbying groups say they will continue to push for reduced Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirements following a report that a U.S. government agency found currency transaction reports to be essential in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing. In a study expected to be issued Feb. 21, the Government Accountability Office will show that CTRs filed by financial institutions provide essential information for law enforcement investigations. The report also concludes that the banking industry has not been able to prove that the filing requirements are excessively burdensome. The GAO's findings were first reported by the American Banker on Wednesday. The...
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As a deadline for the implementation of electronic Bank Secrecy Act reporting approached earlier this month, hundreds of financial institutions questioned whether they had too little time to comply with the requirements.
Hundreds of banks and credit unions are likely to miss a June deadline to comply with federal rules mandating that they file all anti-money laundering regulatory reports electronically.
A federal court fined a north New Jersey bank $5 million Monday for willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act in an attempt to disguise $35 million in suspicious transactions, including $5 million in structured deposits.
The United Kingdom's chief financial regulator Tuesday fined Barclays PLC more than $4 million for "serious weaknesses" in its securities transaction monitoring reporting, the largest penalty issued by the agency for such problems.
Banks should use client financial statements, tax returns and audits when determining whether a business can be exempted from currency transaction reporting duties, the U.S. Treasury Department said Monday.
The U.S. Treasury Department finalized rules Thursday, lightening the requirements for financial institutions to report transactions above $10,000 on certain customers.
The country's largest banking association proposed a sweeping overhaul of U.S. anti-money laundering enforcement that would create a governmental entity responsible for overseeing Bank Secrecy Act compliance.
A Nov. 1 deadline imposed by the Bush administration for finalizing federal regulations could effectively kill a FinCEN proposal that would reduce the currency transaction reporting burden on financial institutions.
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has proposed amending Bank Secrecy Act regulations to reduce the paperwork banks do to exempt certain customer transactions from currency transaction reporting rules.
The Government Accountability Office, in a report issued Thursday, said financial institutions shy away from seeking exemptions that would reduce the number of CTRs they must file every year because the rules are unnecessarily complicated and they fear regulatory reprisals.
The aim of the restructuring proposal is to focus the Treasury's agencies primarily on financial soundness, consumer and investor regulation and overall market stability, Treasury Department Under Secretary Robert Steel said Thursday at the New York Society of Securities Analysts.
U.S. regulators acknowledged the outcry from the financial industry for Bank Secrecy Act reporting relief but said they would not take any action until a government effectiveness study is released early next year, according to a congressional report released Thursday.
A bill that would reduce the number of Bank Secrecy Act related reports financial institutions must file won't become law because of opposition from law enforcement and a backlog of higher-priority bills on Capitol Hill, banking compliance experts say.
Leaders of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee have requested a study of the effectiveness of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing reporting requirements and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's efficiency in administering them.
The growth in suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted by financial institutions continued to slow at the end of last year, as depository institutions gained experience in the filing process, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said.
U.S. banks with more than $20 billion in assets are assigning an average 33 employees to fulfill their Bank Secrecy Act compliance obligations, according a survey released Sunday at the American Bankers Association Regulatory Compliance Conference in Atlanta.
United Roosevelt Savings Bank and Eurobank, in cease and desist orders issued Tuesday, were instructed to look for transactions that should have triggered currency transaction reports or suspicious activity reports. Both were cited for other deficiencies in their anti-money laundering programs.
Financial services professionals on Thursday called on lawmakers to reform Bank Secrecy Act rules, which they say overburden their organizations, regulators and law enforcement with marginally useful anti-money laundering related reports.
RBC Dain Rauscher Inc. failed to establish written procedures for filing suspicious activity reports, adequately review transaction structuring or establish adequate monitoring systems so it could act on exceptions identified by the firm's AML department, according to the order.
Financial institutions with limited resources often dont seek exemptions for filing currency transaction reports because they are unable or unwilling to handle the required additional due diligence and regulatory scrutiny.