NY Regulators Propose New Steps Against Terrorism Financing

New York regulators on Tuesday proposed requiring banks to annually certify having sufficient programs to deter terrorism financing and money laundering.

The Department of Financial Services said the proposed regulations would apply to all New York-regulated banks, branches of foreign banks licensed to operate in the state and licensed check cashers and money transmitters.

“Global terrorist networks simply cannot thrive without moving significant amounts of money throughout the world,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “At a time of heightened global security concerns, it is especially vital that banks and regulators do everything they can to stop that flow of illicit funds.”

Institutions would have to have a senior officer certify by each April 15 that they have transaction monitoring programs that flag potential violations or suspicious activity. They would also be required to certify using watch list filtering programs, for “real time” halting of transactions based on U.S. economic and trade sanctions, as well as internal watch and politically exposed persons lists.

This article appeared in print on page 36 of the December 2nd, 2015 edition of Hamodia.