Newsroom

June 13, 2018

NAFCU-backed bill to streamline BSA requirements in mark-up tomorrow

moneyThe House Financial Services Committee will hold a mark-up Thursday of several bills, including the NAFCU-backed Counter Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act (H.R. 6068) that could provide some regulatory relief to credit unions.

The bill would update the dollar-amount thresholds for certain currency transaction reports (CTRs) and suspicious activity reports (SARs) and improve the sharing of SARs within a financial group. It would also require the Treasury Department and other related agencies to conduct a review of the current reporting requirements for financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in an effort to reduce regulatory burdens.

This review would include a study of the current timeframe for filing SARs, whether CTRs and SARs reporting thresholds should be tied to inflation, and circumstances surrounding the filing of a continuing SAR, among other points.

"NAFCU is supportive of the Counter Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act and other efforts to modernize our nation's anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism regime," said NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt. "The bill’s provisions help provide some clarification and relief to credit unions."

NAFCU has shared with Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) credit unions' regulatory burden concerns related to SAR and CTR filings.

Other bills in Thursday's mark-up include the Options Markets Stability Act (H.R. 5749), the Building Up Independent Lives and Dreams Act (H.R. 5953), the Streamlining Communications for Investors Act (H.R. 6035) and the Fight Illicit Networks and Detect Trafficking Act.

NAFCU will monitor the mark-up and keep credit unions updated.