Your Customer proposal are of enormous importance to our country and must not be dismissed. Stemming the flow of narcotics into the country, and combating the sale of drugs on our streets, depend heavily on the ability of law enforcement to impede the efforts of drug dealers to convert the cash proceeds of their activities into useable funds. Since it is inevitable that criminals will seek to use depository institutions to launder their illegal revenues, it is entirely reasonable that banks and their regulators take all reasonable steps to ensure that they are not used wittingly or unwittingly to further illegal activities. For many years the Bank Secrecy Act has been aimed at achieving this objective and bankers have provided a valuable role in this effort in a working partnership with bank regulators and the law enforcement community. Beyond the valuable contribution banks make to this effort, there are other considerations that must be weighed as we consider new regulatory initiatives.
Banks play an enormously important role in our economy.
They serve as a safe repository for the earnings and savings of scores of millions of citizens. They play an essential role in the financing of commercial and consumer transactions. They operate our mechanism for making and clearing payments, and they provide a broad range of fiduciary services for both individuals and businesses. Maintaining public confidence in the banking system has long been an important objective of national policy. Indeed, restoring public confidence in banks was one of the important reasons why the OCC was created over 135 years ago.