ARLINGTON, Va.—NAFCU is calling for regulatory relief for credit unions under the Bank Secrecy Act in a letter to the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.
The letter was sent by Brad Thaler, NAFCU vice president of legislative affairs, ahead of Tuesday’s HFSC hearing, "Examining the BSA/AML Regulatory Compliance Regime."
Thaler noted credit unions' support of efforts to combat criminal activity in the financial system. He pointed to the institutions' positive working relationship with Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and said credit unions find FinCEN's periodic publication of AML/BSA guidance to be "very helpful."
"However," Thaler added, "BSA requirements still remain a burden to implement, especially in the ever-growing tidal wave of new regulations since the financial crisis. We urge the subcommittee to continue to look for ways to provide credit unions with regulatory relief."
Writing committee Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) and Ranking Member Lacy Clay (D-MO), Thaler offered some suggestions for relief, among them:
- An increase in the transaction thresholds triggering suspicious activity report and currency transaction report requirements
- Extended suspicious activity filing deadlines to ease reporting burdens, particularly for ongoing activity
- Simplified SAR "notice filings" referencing earlier, more detailed SARs on ongoing activity
- Technical grants or training to support institutions' compliance efforts
Noting that institutions soon will need to comply with rules requiring ID verification of beneficial account owners, Thaler also noted NAFCU's support for the draft Corporate Transparency Act from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). This measure would help facilitate more coordination among state agencies, law enforcement, and credit unions to facilitate credit unions' access to beneficial ownership information the states collect.