The Treasury Department has expanded bank data-sharing rules tied to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The new guidelines allow banks to rapidly share information about suspected customers and flag signs that one of their customers may be an illegal immigrant.
Background
The changes are part of the administration’s push to remove illegal immigrants from the nation’s banking system without explicitly mandating that banks do so. The administration has framed these actions as a crackdown on fraud and crime, not explicitly about immigration.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in prepared remarks at a banking conference in Houston, ‘The information in your purview can help stop a cartel financier, disrupt a money laundering network, uncover labor exploitation, or protect taxpayers from fraud.’ The new guidance is part of an executive order signed in May by Trump that requires banks to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers.
Banks have long been able to share information about their customers with other banks under the Patriot Act program when they suspect money laundering or fraud. The new guidelines widen this system, allowing banks to share such information in real time and more freely.
The Trump Administration is giving banks a wider variety of reasons to share information, which now include flags historically tied to immigration status. One example is a customer having an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), which are disproportionately used by illegal immigrants when applying for work.
Reaction
Bankers have been wary about sharing customer information with the federal government as part of immigration enforcement. Nicholas Anthony, who focuses on bank regulation issues at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, said, ‘The administration is saying they don’t want banks to be immigration officials, but they are trying to get as close to the line as possible.’
Immigration advocates have previously said any order that would require banks to collect citizenship information would likely result in illegal immigrants moving out of the financial system, increasing the number of ‘unbanked’ individuals.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
