WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing that banks report all electronic money transfers in and out of the country, expanding its anti-terrorism requirements for financial institutions.

Officials at the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said Monday that the requirement would boost their ability to track the source of funding for terrorists.

Currently, banks are required to report only cash transactions above $10,000. They are also required to keep records on all electronic transfers of money in and out of the country above $3,000 and provide that information to law enforcement officials if asked to do so.

James H. Freis Jr., head of the Treasury agency, said that widening the reporting requirement would provide benefits with only a “modest cost to industry.”

“This regulatory plan will greatly assist law enforcement in detecting and ferreting out transnational organized crime, multinational drug cartels, terrorist financing and international tax evasion,” Freis said in a statement announcing that the proposed rules were being published in the Federal Register for public comment.

The proposed expansion of reporting requirements would not take effect until 2012.

The new policy would fulfill requirements under the 2004 intelligence law, which gave federal agencies greater authority to monitor potential terrorist threats.

 

Copy the Story Link

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.