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Money Services Businesses Bill Would Ease Bank Compliance Burden

By Brian Orsak

Two U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday that would ease the regulatory burden on commercial banks that work with money services businesses. The bill, the Money Service Business Act of 2007, would allow MSBs to "self-certify" that they are complying with anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing regulations. The measure, introduced by Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Spencer Bachus, is intended to counter a trend among banks of dropping their dealings with MSBs because of the costly compliance burden. The bill effectively would scale back the degree of due diligence banks must perform on MSB clients. "Ensuring that banks are comfortable offering...

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