Bessent, Gould meet with Arizona community bankers

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould held a roundtable discussion with Arizona community bankers.

Details: Bessent and Gould discussed the administration’s efforts to alleviate the regulatory burden on community banks and highlighted the role community banks play in fighting fraud, specifically mentioning President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on citizenship.

Background: Issued in May, Executive Order 14406 directs the federal banking regulators to propose changes to Bank Secrecy Act regulations and issue guidance on managing the credit risks of extending loans and financial services to immigrants without work authorization. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, prudential banking regulators, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in June released advisories responding to the EO.

ICBA Advocacy:

• ICBA and 34 state banking associations last month urged Treasury FinCEN to ensure that implementation of a recent executive order and advisory does not burden community banks.

• ICBA in June told the administration that community banks already maintain robust BSA compliance programs and that it had significant concerns about the burdens the EO directives could impose on community banks.

• Ahead of the release of the EO, ICBA repeatedly called on the administration to avoid requiring community banks to collect citizenship information, including in meetings with Treasury Department and prudential regulatory officials and in a letter to administration officials.

• In a news release following the issuance of the EO, ICBA reiterated the importance of avoiding information-collection requirements.