In the Cash Room of the Treasury Building last Tuesday, January 13th, 100+ attendees gathered to participate in the Roundtable organized by the US Treasury in order to discuss the wave of account closures - Bank Discontinuance - that the Non-Bank Financial Services Institutions or MSBs [Money Service Businesses] in the US are facing. 

It was a very interesting half-day of statements, presentations, panels, industry voices, where the very complex problem was analyzed. I have prepared a detailed briefing of the meeting because I think it is important that everyone in the financial services industry gets a picture of what the US regulators from US Treasury, FinCEN, OCC, State Supervisors, Dept. of Justice, think. Please read the full account here: http://bit.ly/14ZyUjJ

The Welcome and Opening Remarks were in charge of Under Secretary David S. Cohen from the Treasury Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, followed by the Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell from the Department of Justice, Criminal Division.

The first panel on U.S. Treasury Views on Financial Access and MSBs was moderated by Jean Pesme (World Bank) with panelists from the Office of Domestic Finance [Deputy Assistant Secretary Melissa Koide], from the Office of International Affairs [Deputy Assistant. Secretary Alexia Latortue] and from the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence [Deputy Assistant Secretary Jennifer Fowler] followed by Questions and Answers.

The second panel on Regulatory Expectations and MSBs was moderated by Jamal El-Hindi (FinCEN) with panelists from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network [Acting Deputy Director, Jamal El-Hindi], from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency [Deputy Comptroller  Grovetta Gardineer] and from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors [President/CEO John Ryan] followed by another round of Questions and Answers

After the Coffee Break the third panel was a Discussion with Industry, very well moderated by Sarah Runge from Treasury where a number of industry delegates participated. At 1:00 PM the meeting adjourned.

Please read the full account of the meeting here: http://bit.ly/14ZyUjJ and share your comments and ideas in the hopes that this meeting becomes a good first step and the exploration of practical solutions continues.