Business
Banks has always been a secretive establishment, heightened even more so by The Bank Secrecy Act. This makes most, if not all transactions with them a bit unclear and complicated. Bob Roark sits down with https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjroberts (Robin Roberts), CEO of https://ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank), to delve into this law and how the 9/11 incident strengthened it through the Patriot Act. She explains why it is better to simply go on with your usual bank transactions instead of structuring it. Robin also talks about the penalties that come with breaking the Bank Secrecy Act both on the side of the customer as well as the banks. --- Watch the episode https://youtu.be/xzO4mty6K7E (here) The Bank Secrecy Act, What It Is And Why Business Owners Should Be Aware With Robin Roberts, CEO Pikes Peak National Bank Have you ever wondered why banks sometimes do things that are not quite clear? In this series, I have Robin Roberts. She’s the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). She’s going to be talking about the Bank Secrecy Act and how that might apply to you as a business owner. Enjoy. Thank you. --- How many times you have said, “I’ve got a secret and I’m not telling.” The banks have secrets too, but it’s not because they want to have secrets. It’s because they have a Bank Secrecy Act. We thought we would take in, pull the cover off of the secrets in the Bank Secrecy Act. You talk about them and how they might affect you as the business owner and a client of a bank. Robin, thank you. This is Robin Roberts the CEO of https://www.ppnb.com/ (Pikes Peak National Bank). We are in the demystifying stage of talking about lending, banking and business owners. I always felt like I need to talk about the Bank Secrecy Act because it’s a law. First of all, it was created in 1971 or 1972 to at least find racketeering, drug rings and money laundering being done through the banking system. After 9/11, with the Patriot Act, the Bank Secrecy Act was strengthened. Several things were added to the Bank Secrecy Act that banks have been doing since 2001. The Patriot Act continues to be renewed by Congress so they stay in place. I’m not telling any secrets. You can look up the Bank Secrecy Act and the regulations, it’s publicly available but I don’t think it’s public knowledge. [bctt tweet="Any business dealing in money is going to have to follow the Bank Secrecy Act." username=""] Most people do not understand how much the bank is reporting about you and not under penalty of law for the bank but under penalty of law for individual employees who do not follow the Bank Secrecy Act. This is a particular law where the employee themselves can be assessed that is called a Civil Money Penalty or assessment where they have to pay a fine because they didn’t follow the Bank Secrecy Act. There are severe penalties for not following it. That’s how seriously the Bank Secrecy Act is looked at by bank regulators and by bankers in general. [caption id="attachment_5889" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Bank Secrecy Act: Most people do not understand how much the bank is reporting about you and not under penalty of law for the bank, but under penalty of law for individual employees who do not follow the Bank Secrecy Act.[/caption] With that being said, one must not cross the Bank Secrecy Act. Our favorite discussion is the one about if I deposit X dollars at this bank and X dollars at this branch, is that a reportable thing? Please don’t ask that. Do not go up to the teller and ask them, “I’ve got this cash. I need to bring it in but I don’t want it to be reported. What’s the threshold if I take it over here to this branch?” The fact that you are asking that, the teller has to report that you wanted to structure transactions. It’s called structuring. There are basic thresholds under the Bank Secrecy Act. $10,000 is a general fine. $9,999 is not going to cut it? At least $10,001