The Obama administration wants to involve U.S. banks to report all electronic money transfers into and out of the country, a theatrical expansion in efforts to counter terrorist financing and money laundering.
Officials say the information would assist those spot the sort of transfers that helped finance the al-Qaeda hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They say the expanded financial data would allow anti-terrorist agencies to better understand normal money-flow patterns so they can spot irregular activity.
Financial institutions are now required to report to the Treasury Department transactions in surplus of $10,000 and others they deem doubtful. The new rule would require banks to reveal even the smallest transfers.
Treasury officials plan to post the future regulation on their Web site Monday and in the Federal Register this week. The public could comment before a final rule is published and the schedule takes effect, which officials say will probably not be until 2012.
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