The House Financial Services Committee Thursday passed a bill with Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) relief for credit unions. The Coordinating Oversight, Upgrading and Innovating Technology and Examiner Reform (COUNTER) Act (H.R. 2514) passed the committee with a 55-0 vote.

Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) successfully added an amendment to the COUNTER Act to index the Currency Transaction Report (CTR) thresholds for inflation and further study the impact of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). During the hearing, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) and other members of the committee expressed support for credit unions and acknowledged the need for increasing the CTR threshold.

 “Credit unions support efforts to track money laundering and terrorist financing, but also believe it is important to strike the right balance between the compliance costs to financial institutions, like credit unions, and the benefits to the federal government,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle in a letter of support sent to Committee Chair Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Committee Ranking Member Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

“Today’s vote was an important first step, and we thank Representatives Cleaver and Loudermilk for working with Chairwoman Waters to advance this legislation,” CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan added. “The dollar amount thresholds included in the BSA/AML for Currency Transaction Reports and Suspicious Activity Reports have not been updated since the law was originally enacted in 1970, and we look forward to working with House and Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle to pass legislation that reduces credit unions’ burden, improving the services they provide to members across the country.” 

CUNA has written to Congress about the need for BSA/AML modernizations in recent months, and supports a bill from Loudermilk that would raise reporting thresholds for SARs and CTRs.