{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr766-114/featured_financial-institution-customer-protection-act-of-2016-1454970740.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr766-114/featured_large_financial-institution-customer-protection-act-of-2016-1454970740.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr766-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-02-05","title_override":"Protecting Bank Customers from \"Operation Choke Point\" — Unless They’re Linked to Terrorism","summary_override":"

This bill seeks to protect bank customers that otherwise might have had their accounts targeted by Operation Choke Point. However, if the federal government has reason to believe a customer is linked to financing terrorism, they would still be at the mercy of OPC.

Operation Choke Point was an initiative launched by the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) in 2013 to target businesses suspected of fraud and money laundering activities. The program has been criticized for targeting and harming legitimate businesses.

Federal banking agencies would be prohibited from formally or informally suggesting or ordering a depository institution (like a bank or credit union) to terminate a customer accounts, groups of accounts, or restricting relationships with groups of customers unless:

The agency has a material reason to do so;
The reason is not based solely on reputation risk related to that customer or group of customers.

The “material reason” criterion would be satisfied if a federal banking agency believes that customer or group of customers in question poses a threat to national security, including involvement in terrorist financing.

Federal banking agencies would be required to notify the depository institution about a customer’s account restriction or termination — but wouldn't have to notify the customer. Any notice to the customer would be prohibited if the federal banking agency requests or orders the termination or restriction of a customer account if the customer is believed to be a threat to national security.

This bill also revises requirements for summoning witnesses and requiring the production of books or other records deemed relevant by the Attorney General for a civil investigation that may result in civil penalties for specified violations.

","official_title":"To provide requirements for the appropriate Federal banking agencies when requesting or ordering a depository institution to terminate a specific customer account, to provide for additional requirements related to subpoenas issued under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2016","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2016\n\n (Sec. 2) This bill prohibits a federal banking agency from formally or informally suggesting, requesting, or ordering a depository institution to terminate either a specific customer account, or group of customer accounts, or otherwise restrict or discourage it from entering into or maintaining a banking relationship with a specific customer or group of customers, unless: (1) the agency has a material reason to do so, and (2) the reason is not based solely on reputation risk.\n\nThe \"material reason\" criterion shall be satisfied if an agency believes that a specific customer or group of customers poses a threat to national security, including any belief that they are involved in terrorist financing.\n\nUnless the appropriate agency determines that the customer or group of customers has used due diligence to avoid doing business with any entity described below, the bill deems the criteria addressing \"material reason\" to be met if the ag...","summarized":true,"cost":0,"cost_commentary":"The CBO estimates that this bill would cause no change in federal spending.","impact":"Individuals and businesses whose bank accounts might have been scrutinized due to Operation Choke Point, financial institutions, federal banking agencies, and the DOJ.","argument_for":"This bill would put a stop to the abuse of legitimate business owners under Operation Choke Point, while still allowing regulators and banks to cut off accounts that they believe are linked to funding terrorist activities. 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Protecting Bank Customers from "Operation Choke Point" — Unless They’re Linked to Terrorism