State laws that require banks to provide services to certain customers may inhibit bank’s ability to comply with federally required anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism laws and sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a letter to lawmakers.
In the letter, which was responding to a request from lawmakers, Treasury referenced a new Florida law that prevents banks from denying services to customers because of their political, business or religious affiliations. Other states have proposed similar laws. The department noted that banks must comply with Financial Crimes Enforcement Network regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act, as well as Office of Foreign Assets Control-administrated sanctions. While some factors banks use to comply with sanctions are quantitative, others are qualitative, it added.
Other requirements in the Florida law and proposed laws in other states raise similar concerns, Treasury said. It is unclear whether the prohibition on considering a customer’s “affiliations” allows banks to assess a customer’s association with a designated terrorist group. Also, because the Florida law prohibits banks from considering factors “related to the person’s business sector,” some institutions may believe they should disregard whether certain sectors—such as the manufacture and sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals—are significantly higher risk than others. Finally, by requiring state regulators to issue investigative reports directly to the individuals who submitted complaints, state laws risk disclosing sensitive information regarding suspicious activity reports, which must be kept confidential under federal law.
“Even a redacted investigative report may implicitly reveal that a SAR has been filed, potentially tipping off terrorists, criminals and others who would do our country harm,” Treasury said.
