The federal government's Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering rules must be updated to recognize the huge burden requirements have on small institutions, such as credit unions, the industry's trade groups said this week.

"Credit unions take BSA/AML compliance seriously and dedicate significant resources to it," CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote in a letter to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee. "However, when credit unions are spending their limited resources disproportionately on compliance, this means they are spending fewer resources on innovating and providing safe and affordable products and services."

"Credit unions are not looking for the NCUA to design a prescriptive training program that must be followed, but rather support flexibility in carrying out this important function to ensure that necessary and vital reporting continues and credit union staff may be protected from civil liability," Brad Thaler, NAFCU's vice president of legislative affairs wrote in a letter to the Banking Committee.