September 5, 2002
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
250 E Street SW
Public Information Room, Maillots 1-5
Washington, DC 20219
Attention: Docket No. 02-11
Executive Secretary
Attention: Comments /OES
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
550 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20429
RE: Request for comment: Customer Identification Programs for Banks, Savings Associations,
and Credit Unions; Federal Register 48290, July 23, 2002
Dear Sir or Madam:
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the joint notice of proposed rulemaking on
Customer Identification Programs for Banks, Savings Associations, and Credit Unions
published pursuant to section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, signed into law on
October 26, 2001. Section 326 of the Act adds a new subsection (1) to 31 U.S.C. 5318 that
requires the Secretary to prescribe regulations setting forth minimum standards for
financial institutions that relate to the identification and verification of any person
who applies to open an account. This proposal is designed to implement those requirements.The following comments to the proposal are listed in the order in
which the provisions appear in the proposal.
1. Definition of Account [103.121(a)(1)
We request more guidance be provided regarding the definition of account.
Specifically, how this will apply to indirect lending or other loans purchased. In these
cases, the bank purchasing the loan would
generally not have any contact with the customer or an opportunity to obtain or verify
identification documents.
2. Recordkeeping Requirements [103.121(b)(3)]
We would suggest requiring retention of the information contained on an identification
document rather than retention of a photocopy of the document. Photocopies of documents
are generally not of good quality and would provide very little additional assistance for
identification purposes. In addition, the information and photograph contained on a
document such as a driver's license will become obsolete over time.
Of additional concern would be the storage requirements. The requirement to retain
photocopies of the identification documents for five years after an account is closed
appears to be excessive and, as mentioned above, of little value as the information and
photograph contained on the document will become obsolete over time.
3. Customer Notice [103.121(b)(5)]
We suggest more specific criteria be provided in the final regulation regarding the
content and location of the required notice to customers, including model language deemed
to be in compliance with the regulation.
There will be customer resistance to the identification requirements. The more
consistently they are communicated to the public and the more obvious it is that they are
required by law, the more readily they will be accepted as a routine part of opening a
bank account.
4. Exemptions [103.121(c)]
We would suggest that exemptions granted by the regulator include correspondent bank
accounts. Signatories on these types of accounts may change frequently. Requiring
identification verification as signatories are changed would create a burden and be of
little value as identification verification should have already been performed by the bank
upon employment.
5. Implementation
We would suggest that there be a four to six month implementation period following
publication of the final rule. The new customer identification requirements will have a
large impact on banks including writing procedures, obtaining board approval,
accommodating storage requirements, and training staff. We do not feel it will be possible
to complete all of these projects by October 25, 2002.
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this proposed rule.
Sincerely,
Old Second National Bank
Ruby Pleva,
Teller Services Manager, BSA Officer 37 S River St.
Aurora, IL 60506
Yorkville National Bank
Janice Towne,
AVP, BSA Officer
Shirlee Guddendorf,
Compliance Officer
102 E Van Emmon St
Yorkville, IL 6056
Kane County Bank
Peggy Nelson,
AVP, BSA Officer
749 N Main St
Elburn, IL 60119
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