What This Bill Does
This bill aims to prevent foreign banks from providing banking services to foreign terrorist organizations (groups that use violence for political aims) and from helping to pay for terrorist acts. The bill gives the Treasury Secretary new authority to punish foreign banks that break anti-terrorism financial rules by blocking them from using bank accounts in the United States.
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Who It Affects
Foreign banks and financial institutions that operate outside the United States, the U.S. Treasury Department, and U.S. banks that maintain correspondent accounts (banking relationships) with foreign institutions.
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Key Provisions
- Congress declares that some foreign banks in friendly countries evade U.S. anti-terrorism financial laws by avoiding a direct presence in America while knowingly providing banking services to terrorist organizations that target Americans (Sec. 2)
- Congress calls on the Treasury Secretary to identify foreign financial institutions that break anti-terrorism rules as institutions of primary money laundering concern (major risk for illegal financial activity) (Sec. 2)
- Congress calls on the Treasury Secretary to block correspondent accounts in the United States for those identified institutions (Sec. 2)
- The bill expands what the Treasury Secretary must consider when deciding which institutions and accounts pose a primary money laundering concern, including whether they knowingly provide financial services to terrorist entities or facilitate payments for terrorist acts (Sec. 3)
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What Changes
The Treasury Secretary gains new factors to consider when identifying foreign banks as high-risk for money laundering, specifically whether they provide banking services to foreign terrorist organizations or help fund terrorist acts.
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Important Definitions
None defined in bill text.
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I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1408
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 7, 2023
Mr. LAMBORN (for himself, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. BACON, Mr. WILSON of South
Carolina, Mr. KUSTOFF, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr.
VARGAS, Mr. ROY, Mr. BABIN, Mr. DUNN of Florida, Mr. GOTTHEIMER,
Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, and Mr. MILLER of Ohio) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
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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•HR 1408 IH
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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•HR 1408 IH
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;
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(3) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the
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end and inserting a semicolon; and
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(4) 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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•HR 1408 IH
for acts of terrorism described in section
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1004(a)(1)(B) of the Taylor Force Act (22
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U.S.C. 2378c–1(a)(1)(B)).’’.
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Æ
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