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NAFCU's Brad Thaler urged the House Financial Services Committee to support legislation that would reform some aspects of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/anti-money laundering (AML) requirements ahead of today's markup.

During the markup, scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, the committee is expected to consider two NAFCU-supported bills related to BSA/AML reforms: H.R. 2514, the Coordinating Oversight, Upgrading and Innovating Technology, and Examiner Reform Act (COUNTER Act) offered by Representative Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and H.R. 2513, the Corporate Transparency Act of 2019, offered by Representative Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.

The COUNTER Act would make improvements to the BSA/AML regime, including encouraging more law enforcement and examiner coordination, and requiring additional training for examiners on BSA issues. It would also encourage innovation and the use of new technologies in the AML system.  An NAFCU-backed amendment is also expected to be offered during the markup to help reduce filing burdens for financial institutions on certain Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filings and Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs). 

The Corporate Transparency Act would help financial institutions comply with the new Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Rule by requiring companies to disclose their true “beneficial owners” to FinCEN for creation of a database of beneficial ownership information that would be available to law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. 

"We believe that the BSA/AML system is in need of improvements and reform, and we are pleased that the Committee is prepared to advance legislation to strengthen and improve the system as part of tomorrow’s markup," wrote Thaler.

The markup also includes four other bills.

A NAFCU witness has previously testified on the need for BSA/AML reforms, and the association is supportive of introduced legislation that would provide some relief to credit unions by raising certain thresholds, including for CTRs and SARs. The markup can be viewed live here.