A congressional measure pressuring foreign banks to disclose their U.S. clients will have a greater long-term impact in the fight against bank secrecy than the landmark deferred prosecution of UBS AG, according to Peter Hardy, a former U.S. assistant attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia. The bill, signed into law in March 18 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, will also add significant compliance burden to bank anti-money laundering programs, said Hardy, the author of Criminal Tax, Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act Litigation. Under the measure, banks must provide the U.S. Treasury...
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