New York proposes banking rules to prevent illicit financing
- Suzanne Barlyn
- Dec 1, 2015
- 1 min read
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
New regulations proposed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday would require banks operating in the state to adopt rigorous measures to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorist groups.
The proposed regulations will, among other things, require a bank's chief compliance officer to certify whether a bank maintains the types of systems outlined in the rule to detect and prevent illicit money transfers, said the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the state's financial regulator, which is writing the rules.
Chief compliance officers could face criminal penalties for filing false certifications, according to the proposal.
Cuomo, as Democrat, unveiled the proposal as the U.S. is ramping up efforts to cut off funding to Islamic State.
The measures have included everything from screening thousands of financial institution reports for signs of Islamic State-linked activity to striking the group's oil infrastructure in Syria, a strategy that the U.S. says diminishes the group's black-market earnings from oil by about a third.
Banks have 45 days to comment on the proposal, which would also require banks to beef up computerized programs that automatically block transactions by suspicious individuals whose names appear on U.S. government or internal "watch lists," NYDFS said.
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