[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3760 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3760

 To amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to require the Board of 
  Governors of the Federal Reserve System to include money laundering 
activities in the consideration of applications under section 3 of the 
                   Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 29, 1998

 Ms. Waters (for herself, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Thompson, Mr. 
 Rush, and Mr. Davis of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which 
    was referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to require the Board of 
  Governors of the Federal Reserve System to include money laundering 
activities in the consideration of applications under section 3 of the 
                   Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bank Merger Money Laundering 
Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Money laundering is a serious problem: between 
        $100,000,000,000 and $300,000,000,000 in United States currency 
        is ``laundered'' each year.
            (2) Money laundering is critical to survival of the illicit 
        drug trade, which has annual worldwide revenues of more than 
        $400,000,000,000, more than 8 percent of the total value of 
        international trade.
            (3) United States financial institutions are a critical 
        link in our efforts to combat money laundering.
            (4) Highly secretive private banking services that cater to 
        wealthy clients are particularly vulnerable to use by drug 
        traffickers for money laundering purposes and it is estimated 
        that private banking services have banking assets ranging from 
        $200,000,000,000 to $300,000,000,000.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To ensure that United States financial institutions 
        make combating money laundering the highest of priorities.
            (2) To require the Board of Governors of the Federal 
        Reserve System to take into consideration a company's 
        effectiveness in combating money laundering activities as part 
        of any review of an application under section 3 of the Bank 
        Holding Company Act of 1956.
            (3) To prohibit the Board of Governors of the Federal 
        Reserve System from considering an application by a company 
        under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 while 
        the company is under investigation for money laundering or is 
        the subject of Federal prosecution.
            (4) To prohibit the Board from approving any application 
        under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 for a 
        period of 5 years by any company which has been found 
        criminally or civilly liable for money laundering.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO SECTION 3 OF THE BANK HOLDING COMPANY ACT OF 1956.

    (a) In General.--Section 3(c) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 
1956 (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph:
            ``(6) Money laundering.--In every case--
                    ``(A) the Board shall take into consideration the 
                effectiveness of the company or companies in combating 
                and preventing money laundering activities, including 
                in overseas branches;
                    ``(B) the Board shall not consider any application 
                under this section involving any company which is the 
                subject of any--
                            ``(i) pending Federal investigation of 
                        possible money laundering or other related 
                        financial crimes; or
                            ``(ii) pending Federal prosecution for 
                        money laundering or other related financial 
                        crimes,
                until such investigation or prosecution is completed 
                and a finding is made, except that this subparagraph 
                shall not apply if the period for such completion and 
                the making of findings exceeds 3 years; and
                    ``(C) the Board shall disapprove any application 
                under this section involving any company which has been 
                found criminally or civilly liable for money laundering 
                or any related financial crime during the 5-year period 
                preceding the consideration of such application by the 
                Board.''.
    (b) Scope of Application.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
shall apply with respect to any application submitted to the Board of 
Governors of the Federal Reserve System under section 3 of the Bank 
Holding Company Act of 1956 after December 31, 1997, which has not been 
approved by the Board before the date of the enactment of this Act.
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