The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) is the United States's primary anti-money laundering legislation. The BSA was enacted in 1970 and has become one of the most important tools in the fight against money laundering. Since then, numerous other laws have enhanced and amended the BSA to provide law enforcement and regulatory agencies with the most effective tools to combat money laundering.;xNLx;;xNLx;Money laundering is the process of making illegally-gained proceeds appear legal. Money laundering can facilitate crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorist financing, cultural racketeering, and can adversely impact the global economy.;xNLx;;xNLx;"Introduced" indicates legislation that was introduced to the United States Congress but never became law.;xNLx;;xNLx;"Pending" indicates legislation that is currently being considered by the United States government and may become law in the near future.
A United States law that requires financial institutions to file reports with the government for any transaction over $10,000, and requires financial institutions to report suspicious activity that could signify financial crimes such as money laundering.
The Arms Export Control Act of 1976 gives the President of the United States the authority to control the import and export of defense articles and defense services. This act limits what kind of military equipment can be sold to parties outside of the US.
This Act allows the President to declare a national emergency with respect to any unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security foreign policy or economy of the United States that has its source, in substantial part, from overseas. After declaring a threat, the President can take a range of economic actions and impose severe economic penalties on people, entities, countries that are designated as being associated in some way with that threat.
This Act established money laundering as a federal crime, prohibited structuring transactions to evade CTR filings, introduced civil and criminal forfeiture for BSA violations, and directed banks to establish and maintain procedures to ensure and monitor compliance with the reporting and record keeping requirements of the BSA.
This act expanded the definition of "financial institution" to include businesses such as car dealers and real estate closing personnel and required them to file reports on large currency transactions, and required the verification of identity of purchasers of monetary instruments over $3,000.
This Act strengthened the sanctions for BSA violations, requiring financial institutions to file Suspicious Activity Reports and eliminating previously used Criminal Referral Forms. This Act also required verification and record keeping for wire transfers Established the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG).
This Act required banking agencies to review and enhance training, and develop anti-money laundering examination procedures. This Act also required banking agencies to review and enhance procedures for referring cases to appropriate law enforcement agencies. Additionally, this Act streamlined CTR exemption process. This Act also added additional requirements for Money Services Buisnesses (MSBs): it required each Money Services Business (MSB) to be registered by an owner or controlling person of the MSB; required every MSB to maintain a list of businesses authorized to act as agents in connection with the financial services offered by the MSB; made operating an unregistered MSB a federal crime; and recommended that states adopt uniform laws applicable to MSBs.
This Act required banking agencies to develop anti-money laundering training for examiners and required the Department of the Treasury and other agencies to develop a National Money Laundering Strategy. This Act also created the High Intensity Money Laundering and Related Financial Crime Area (HIFCA) Task Forces to concentrate law enforcement efforts at the federal, state and local levels in zones where money laundering is prevalent. HIFCAs may be defined geographically or they can also be created to address money laundering in an industry sector, a financial institution, or group of financial institutions.
Title III of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) is referred to as the International Money Laundering Abatement and Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001. This Act criminalized the financing of terrorism and augmented the existing BSA framework by strengthening customer identification procedures. This Act also prohibited financial institutions from engaging in business with foreign shell banks, and required financial institutions to have due diligence procedures (and enhanced due diligence procedures for foreign correspondent and private banking accounts). This Act improved information sharing between financial institutions and the U.S. government by requiring government-institution information sharing and voluntary information sharing among financial institutions, as well as expanded the anti-money laundering program requirements to all financial institutions, and increased civil and criminal penalties for money laundering. This Act provided the Secretary of the Treasury with the authority to impose "special measures" on jurisdictions, institutions, or transactions that are of "primary money laundering concern" Facilitated records access and required banks to respond to regulatory requests for information within 120 hours. This Act required federal banking agencies to consider a bank's AML record when reviewing bank mergers, acquisitions, and other applications for business combinations.
This Act amended the BSA to require the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations requiring certain financial institutions to report cross-border electronic transmittals of funds, if the Secretary determines that such reporting is "reasonably necessary" to aid in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
