Posted on 12/27/2009 2:34:08 PM PST by FromLori
A U.S. financial crime agency's plan to let foreign police seek information from American banks is drawing opposition from groups representing U.S. financial institutions.
The proposed rule by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the Treasury Department, would also permit U.S. state and local law enforcement authorities to make similar information-sharing requests of banks.
Regulations adopted after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 allow only federal law enforcement agencies, through FinCEN, to request such information.
FinCEN can require U.S. financial institutions to search their records to determine whether they have done business with individuals suspected, based on credible evidence, of terrorism or money laundering.
Written comments on the proposed expansion of the rule were due Dec. 16, and more than half a dozen organizations, including the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Credit Union National Association, said the plan is intrusive.
In a 13-page letter, ABA Vice President Robert Rowe called the proposal "premature and unfounded" and said it represented a "dangerous broadening" of the information-sharing process.
"There is absolutely no indication that the extraordinary power available under the 314(a) data-match program was ever intended by Congress to be put at the service of foreign countries," he wrote, referring to FinCEN regulations that are part of the U.S. Patriot Act of 2001.
The Credit Union National Association, a trade organization that represents thousands of state and federal credit unions, said it was worried about the burden the rule would impose on its members.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
ping
I don’t want my info sent abroad but then again don’t they do that through their call centers using foreigners?
Hey Man! Only the Swiss need to share that kind of important info because they are evil and always have been.
Since the beginning of time, Btw.
Thank God for that PATRIOT ACT! It’s just as bad as the health care bill, maybe worse, and it too was rushed before Congress with little or no debate.
There's a word that has gone out of fashion.
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