WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve should be told to put a hold on their pending regulations seeking to control Internet banking and the full House Financial Committee should look more closely into the regulatory burdens imposed by the Bank Secrecy Act, according to a Dec. 10 letter CUNA sent Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
"The enforcement of prohibitions on unlawful Internet gambling is a laudatory goal, and we support reasonable efforts to protect consumers from falling prey to unscrupulous unlawful gaming activities through the Internet," CUNA wrote. "However, our members are concerned that implementation of the new law will place unforeseen regulatory burdens on financial institutions, as evidenced by the pending proposal from the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board that is open for comments through Dec. 12, 2007. We urge you to step in now to direct a moratorium on the implementation of the pending proposal, until a more reasonable approach can be considered by Congress and the regulators."
CUNA thanked Frank for the attention his office has already paid to credit union issues with BSA regulations, but asked whether more could be done.
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"In light of the continuing issues regarding BSA, we believe it would be extremely beneficial for the full committee to look at the scope of BSA requirements that financial institutions must meet as well as enforcement inconsistencies. We know how busy the committee has been and will likely be next year but would welcome such a review as soon as possible in 2008," CUNA wrote.
"Credit unions are not looking for ways to simply avoid regulatory responsibilities, and they support efficient efforts to combat terrorism and regulate money laundering," the association assured the chairman. "However, the growing burden credit unions must bear is increasingly diverting them from meeting their primary objective of serving their members."
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