In a comment letter to the Treasury department yesterday, ABA provided extensive feedback on several Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering regulations that could be eliminated, modified or streamlined to reduce the compliance burden on banks in response to an executive order issued by President Trump earlier this year.

The regulatory framework put in place to prevent money laundering and stop the financing of terrorist activity should be updated to reflect the changes that have taken place over the past several decades, banker Lloyd DeVaux, president and CEO of Sunstate Bank in Miami, Fla., said today in a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee.

As part of President Trump's overseas trip, the Treasury Department yesterday announced an agreement to establish a Terrorist Financing Targeting Center as a collaborative effort among the United States and several Persian Gulf nations.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network today released a revised list of the jurisdictions that are subject to countermeasures or enhanced due diligence due to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing deficiencies (Section I), as well as jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies that are working to correct them (Section II).

A bipartisan House Financial Services Committee task force today released a report on combating the financing of terror.

The Financial Action Task Force said that the U.S. framework for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is “well developed and robust” in a report released today.

As the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network works to ensure that the financial system that is resistant to abuse and able to share valuable information with law enforcement, Acting Director Jamal El-Hindi today said at the ABA/ABA Money Laundering Enforcement Conference in Washington, D.C., that FinCEN would “think more creatively” about how it exercises its statutory authority.

BAFT -- ABA’s global transaction banking subsidiary -- today released guidance and best practices related to the Financial Action Task Force Recommendation 16, which requires the inclusion of certain beneficiary and originator information when sending wire transfers in an effort to prevent the movement of funds by terrorists and other criminals.

FinCEN yesterday released the text of its long-awaited final customer due diligence rule, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register on May 11.

In a comment letter to the New York State Department of Financial Services, the American Bankers Association urged the agency to withdraw a proposed anti-money laundering regulation that would apply to all financial institutions chartered in the state.