Tuesday, October 18, 2011
FinCEN pushes for cross-border reporting of prepaid
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is proposing that general purpose, reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards and certain kinds of gift cards be included on Currency and Monetary Instrument Reports (CMIRs) that are used to report the international transportation of funds at U.S. border crossings.
FinCEN said CMIRs must be filed to report the international transportation, mail, or shipment of currency or other monetary instruments, such as coins, checks, traveler's checks, promissory notes, money orders and bearers of bonds that, in aggregate, exceed $10,000.
FinCEN recently updated anti-money laundering regulations to include prepaid cards among those monetary instruments. As part of its efforts, FinCEN reclassified prepaid cards as devices of "prepaid access."
"Reporting tangible prepaid access devices puts another tool at the disposal of law enforcement to interrupt the transfer of monetary value anonymously across international borders when that value was obtained illegally," said FinCEN Director James H. Freis Jr.
Passage of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 required the updating of the Bank Secrecy Act to take into account prepaid and stored-value cards – products that were not in existence when the BSA was passed in 1970.
Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
