Rethinking the Bank Secrecy Act

Should Congress consider dropping the Bank Secrecy Act? Of course not. This legislation is a powerful tool in the fight against drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist financing. Bankers' efforts in helping Uncle Sam track down these criminals have been applauded at the highest levels of

That doesn't mean bankers don't have concerns about the way the government is examining banks under BSA. In fact, our members are telling us that a lack of consistency in BSA and anti-money laundering examinations troubles them greatly. So much so that in January the American Bankers Association and all of the state bankers associations joined in writing the federal bank regulators and the Treasury Department about this issue.

We jointly wrote: "While we recognize that there are individual instances where financial institutions may have fallen short and needed to improve their AML (anti-money laundering) and BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) programs and procedures, the lack of consistency in examination oversight and compliance guidance is a major theme of regulatory complaints received by ABA and the state banking associations."