Money Under More Scrutiny

[Dcitizen]

02:00 AM Apr. 26, 2005 PT

Pressured by anti-terror laws, banks will be spending billions of dollars over the next few years on software to counter money laundering. The software will automatically track suspicious financial transactions, but it will also monitor millions of innocuous ones, and may make it harder to cheat on your taxes.

Thanks to the stringent requirements of the Patriot Act, enacted after 9/11 to choke the supply of terror funds, and the unambiguous threats of steep fines and even imprisonment of bank directors if their organizations facilitate money laundering, U.S. financial institutions are very enthusiastic about installing anti-money-laundering software.

Between 2005 and 2008, American banks are forecast to spend about $14.7 billion on anti-money-laundering software, hardware, maintenance and other compliance-related activities, according to Neil Katkov, a Tokyo-based analyst with Celent Communications. Europe and Asia are expected to spend over $11.6 billion during that period...

http://news.com.com/2001-9373_3-0.html?tag=nefd.xtra

[Trillo]

1. I wonder how much this private database will be worth?

Will it have any tendency to decrease costs imposed on banking customers?

Surely, the loss of privacy represents an actual but non-monetary loss. What is the value of that personal privacy, and who benefits monetarily from its loss?

[Dcitizen]

3. Security is one of top priority for banks' operation.

The benefit is maybe up to a hundred million of dollar a year. Computer industry needs new demands in reasonable development every 4,5 years after year 2K conversion, legacy development, supply and demand chain management. The increase in cost of insurance maybe also at the same level or more than the price of new development in the long term, and in my opinion, depending on the large banks' movement as usual to decide this cost adding up to customers' fees as revenue or belongs to admin cost.

The e money system still needs to improve its safe guard constantly but the e-voting is just a free zone of hacking or malwares' practice. Each vote is worth at least $50 in 2400 election, isn't it?

[Demeter]

2. Does That Mean They Will Read the Federal Budget?

or the tax code? How about those Caymans, eh?

[teryang]

4. Translation: population under more surveillance

This goes to the root of a free society and is all wrong. This will do nothing to stop money laundering, that takes place in the most powerful American banks and foreign banks which are basically immune from oversight.

The intention of this act is to monitor the economic and political activities of individuals. Money laundering is a corporate activity that basically goes on 24/7 with impunity because the people who do it are in power.