What This Bill Does
This bill aims to stop foreign banks from providing banking services to foreign terrorist organizations and from helping process payments for acts of terrorism. The bill does this by directing the Treasury Secretary to identify certain foreign financial institutions as sources of primary money laundering concern (illegal movement of money to hide its origin) and prohibit them from using bank accounts in the United States.
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Who It Affects
- Foreign financial institutions (banks operating outside the United States)
- The Secretary of the Treasury
- U.S. banks that maintain correspondent accounts (special accounts that allow foreign banks to conduct business in U.S. dollars)
- Foreign terrorist organizations and their associates
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Key Provisions
- The Secretary of the Treasury should identify foreign financial institutions that ignore anti-terrorism financial regulations as institutions of primary money laundering concern and ban them from using correspondent accounts in the United States (Sec. 2)
- When deciding whether a foreign financial institution is a source of primary money laundering concern, the Treasury Secretary must consider whether that institution knowingly provides financial services, including personal banking services, to designated terrorist entities or persons connected to them (Sec. 3)
- When deciding whether a foreign financial institution is a source of primary money laundering concern, the Treasury Secretary must also consider whether the institution's accounts or transactions are being used to facilitate or promote payments for acts of terrorism (Sec. 3)
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What Changes
The law adds two new factors that the Treasury Secretary must consider when identifying foreign financial institutions as sources of primary money laundering concern. These new factors focus specifically on whether banks knowingly serve terrorist organizations and whether their accounts facilitate terrorism payments.
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Important Definitions
- Correspondent accounts: Special bank accounts that allow foreign financial institutions to conduct business and move money in U.S. dollars through American banks
- Primary money laundering concern: A designation given to financial institutions that are sources of illegal money movement
- Terrorist organizations: Not defined in this bill text
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 691
To deter foreign financial institutions from providing banking services for
the benefit of foreign terrorist organizations and from facilitating or
promoting payments for acts of terrorism.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 7, 2023
Mr. COTTON (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr.
CRUZ, Mr. DAINES, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr.
HOEVEN, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr.
RUBIO, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. THUNE, Mr. WICKER, and Mr.
YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To deter foreign financial institutions from providing banking
services for the benefit of foreign terrorist organizations
and from facilitating or promoting payments for acts
of terrorism.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taylor Force Martyr
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Payment Prevention Act of 2023’’.
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•S 691 IS
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
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(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
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ings:
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(1) Banks in nominally friendly jurisdictions
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evade United States anti-terrorism sanctions by
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avoiding an official presence in the United States,
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and continue to knowingly provide banking services,
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including dollar-denominated transactions, for ter-
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rorist organizations that target United States na-
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tionals for murder.
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(2) Such flouting of anti-terrorism financial
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regulations is only possible through the maintenance
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or use of correspondent accounts at United States
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banks for the benefit of terrorist organizations.
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
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gress that under authority granted by section 5318A of
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title 31, United States Code, as amended by section 3,
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the Secretary of the Treasury should—
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(1) find foreign financial institutions that flout
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anti-terrorism financial regulations to be of primary
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money laundering concern; and
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(2) prohibit the maintenance or use of cor-
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respondent accounts in the United States by such
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institutions.
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•S 691 IS
SEC. 3. CONSIDERATION OF FACILITATION OF TERRORISM
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IN DESIGNATING INSTITUTIONS, ACCOUNTS,
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AND TRANSACTIONS AS OF PRIMARY MONEY
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LAUNDERING CONCERN.
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Section 5318A(c)(2)(B) of title 31, United States
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Code, is amended—
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(1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by strik-
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ing ‘‘all 3’’ and inserting ‘‘all of the preceding’’;
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(2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and in-
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serting a semicolon; and
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(3) by adding at the end the following:
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‘‘(iv) notwithstanding clause (ii), the
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extent to which such institutions knowingly
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provide, or cause other financial institu-
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tions to provide, financial services (includ-
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ing personal banking services) to the entity
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described in subsection (a) of section
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594.319 of title 31, Code of Federal Regu-
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lations (or a successor regulation), or per-
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sons described in subsection (b) of that
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section; and
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‘‘(v) the extent to which such institu-
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tions, transactions, or types of accounts
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are used to facilitate or promote payments
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for acts of terrorism described in section
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•S 691 IS
1004(a)(1)(B) of the Taylor Force Act (22
1
U.S.C. 2378c–1(a)(1)(B)).’’.
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Æ
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