The American Bankers Association and the state bankers associations today urged the House to pass the Corporate Transparency Act (H.R. 2513), which is scheduled for a vote as soon as tomorrow. “H.R. 2513 will help both banks and law enforcement access the information and tools they need to fight financial crimes, ultimately making it harder for criminals and terrorists to misuse legal companies to hide their criminal activities,” the groups said.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), would direct the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to create a national database that banks could use to verify a business’s beneficial ownership information. The bill was amended to include legislation championed by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) that would modernize the existing BSA/AML framework by, among other things, enhancing bank-law enforcement communications.
In related news, during remarks in Washington, D.C., today, FinCEN Director Kenneth Blanco said the 2018 customer due diligence rule, which requires financial institutions to verify beneficial owners of legal entity customers, has been “giving us incredibly valuable information.” He added that “the second step is being able to have beneficial ownership data [recorded] at the incorporation stage”—as envisioned by H.R. 2513.
