The Man from FCPA can only say it was long overdue—that is, the announcement last week that the U.S. government will require banks to obtain the identities of those they do business with going forward. The new rule, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, announced by the Treasury Department and derived from the Department’s “anti-money-laundering unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, was proposed in 2014 but gained urgency with last month’s release by news organizations of internal documents from a Panama law firm that showed wealthy people from around the world, including top officials of foreign governments, hiding money.”
Originally financial institutions were given one year to comply with this new rule. Due to unremitting pressure from financial institutions, however, this one-year deadline has been extended to two years. Speaking of criticism of the new rule, it came from both as sides as banks blasted the new rules because many states do not require that level of information and it will cost banks business if it is too risky to do so.
