Credit unions, community banks can pool resources to fight money laundering
Federal regulators ruled Wednesday (October 3) that credit unions and community banks can pool resources for anti-money laundering compliance so that they can protect against financial crimes and at the same time keep their costs down.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a statement from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Treasury Department, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the National Credit Union Administration, reported the decision was borne out of a working group the agencies created to improve anti-money laundering processes. Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told the Wall Street Journal that the decision is part of a broader effort to strengthen money laundering defenses in the financial system in the U.S. “Sharing resources in no way relieves a bank of this responsibility,” the statement said. “Nothing in this interagency statement alters a bank’s existing legal and regulatory requirements.” The statement noted that while banks could benefit from pooling resources, they should approach sharing resources as they would any other business relationship.
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