BANKS & CREDIT UNIONS

When a customer is cashing a check for a big amount, being let into the vault, or opening a new account, federal regulations require that banks know the true identity of the customer.

Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act applies to all “financial institutions”. This term is defined very broadly in the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to encompass a variety of entities, including commercial banks, agencies and branches of foreign banks in the United States, thrifts, credit unions, private banks, trust companies, investment companies, brokers and dealers in securities, futures commission merchants, insurance companies, travel agents, pawnbrokers, dealers in precious metals, check-cashers, casinos, and telegraph companies, among many others.

AssureTec’s technology was nascent during the initial years following the enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act. Most financial institutions today have procedures in place that do not include the first and most important step in ID Verification — i.e., ID Authentication. Now that AssureTec’s technology is proven and maturing, the U.S. banking industry is waking up to AssureTec technology as a way to augment traditional ID Verification activities. To be truly effective, ID Verification must start with ID Authentication.

In Canada, Bill C-36, The Anti-Terrorism Act, stipulates many of the same conditions about Knowing Your Customer (KYC). In Europe, the Third Money Laundering Directive was adopted in October 2005 and is expected to be implemented into law by member countries before December 2007.