Treasury’s Faulkender lays out principles for BSA modernization

Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender shared the Trump administration’s guiding principles for modernizing Bank Secrecy Act regulations.

Details: Speaking in Washington, Faulkender said BSA regulation should derive from a clear statutory mandate, be efficient and strike an appropriate balance between costs and benefits, and be fair and objective. He also said regulators should be efficient in mitigating risk and transparent in their actions.

Efficiency Focus: “Throughout the regulatory reform process, we intend to focus heavily on the second principle: ensuring that we find the optimal fulcrum for balancing the somewhat opposing forces of costs and benefits,” said Faulkender, who previously espoused pro-community bank tax policies at last month’s ICBA Capital Summit in Washington.

ICBA Advocacy: ICBA has repeatedly advocated reforms to make BSA/AML reporting requirements less burdensome and more effective. In a comment letter on the Office and Management Budget’s request for information on deregulation last month, ICBA strongly recommended raising Suspicious Activity Reporting and Currency Transaction Reporting thresholds.

ICBA View: ICBA’s views on BSA/AML reform are detailed in its policy resolution on BSA policy and enforcement, which calls for making regulatory requirements more targeted, efficient, and effective.