House Committee Adds Anti-Terrorist Financing Provision to Banking Bill
By Andrew Cochran
The House Financial Services Committee (where I served as senior oversight counsel from 2001 through 2003) today added an important anti-terrorist financing provision to a banking regulatory relief bill. The provision, sponsored by Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), requires the Treasury Department, for the first time, to provide an annual report to Congress, financial regulators, and financial institutions on anti-terrorist financing standards of all countries and the extent of enforcement. The Treasury Department report would have to state whether the country is a "country of primary money laundering concern" under the Bank Secrecy Act (as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act) and whether the efforts of that country to combat money laundering and terrorist financing are adequate, improving, or inadequate. In support of her provision, Rep. Kelly said that financial institutions "need a way to judge beforehand which transactions may need extra attention, and which transactions will receive special notice during an exam. Having a consolidated report to give them a full understanding of what foreign jurisdictions are doing will help ensure a secure international financial system." The bill hopefully moves to the full House for consideration; there is no similar bill ready yet on the Senate side. The Kelly-Maloney amendment is available below (Acrobat file).
Download KellyMaloneyAmendment.pdf