Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 792
       
       
       
       By Senators Gaetz and Rich
       
       
       
       
       4-00649-12                                             2012792__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to financial institutions; providing
    3         definitions; requiring a financial institution that is
    4         chartered in this state and that maintains certain
    5         accounts with a foreign financial institution to
    6         establish due diligence policies, procedures, and
    7         controls reasonably designed to detect whether the
    8         foreign financial institution engages in certain
    9         activities facilitating the development of weapons of
   10         mass destruction by the Government of Iran, provides
   11         support for certain foreign terrorist organizations,
   12         or participates in other related activities; requiring
   13         the Office of Financial Regulation to adopt rules
   14         establishing minimum standards for the due diligence
   15         policies, procedures, and controls; requiring a
   16         financial institution chartered in this state to
   17         annually file a compliance certificate with the Office
   18         of Financial Regulation; requiring the Office of
   19         Financial Regulation to submit an annual report
   20         relating to its rules and certifications from
   21         financial institutions to the Governor, the President
   22         of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
   23         Representatives; requiring the Office of the Chief
   24         Financial Officer to make the annual report available
   25         to the public on its website; authorizing the Office
   26         of Financial Regulation to impose a civil penalty
   27         against a financial institution that fails to make the
   28         annual certification required by the act; providing an
   29         effective date.
   30  
   31         WHEREAS, the United States Congress passed, and President
   32  Obama signed into law, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions,
   33  Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, and
   34         WHEREAS, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability,
   35  and Divestment Act of 2010 prohibits or strictly limits any
   36  foreign financial institution’s ability to open or maintain a
   37  correspondent account or a payable-through account with American
   38  financial institutions if the United States Secretary of the
   39  Treasury determines that the foreign financial institution
   40  knowingly engages in certain activities facilitating the
   41  development of weapons of mass destruction by the Government of
   42  Iran, provides support for certain foreign terrorist
   43  organizations, or participates in other related activities, and
   44         WHEREAS, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability,
   45  and Divestment Act of 2010 imposes civil and criminal penalties
   46  against financial institutions based in the United States which
   47  know or should know that they are maintaining a correspondent
   48  account or a payable-through account with a foreign financial
   49  institution that engages in prohibited activities, and
   50         WHEREAS, it is a sensible fiduciary responsibility of
   51  financial institutions chartered in the State of Florida to know
   52  the activities of foreign financial institutions with which they
   53  maintain correspondent or payable-through accounts, NOW,
   54  THEREFORE,
   55  
   56  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   57  
   58         Section 1. Financial institutions; transactions relating to
   59  Iran or terrorism.—
   60         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   61         (a) “Correspondent account” has the same meaning as defined
   62  in 31 U.S.C. s. 5318A.
   63         (b) “Financial institution” has the same meaning as defined
   64  in s. 655.005(1)(i), Florida Statutes.
   65         (c) “Payable-through account” has the same meaning as
   66  defined in 31 U.S.C. s. 5318A.
   67         (2) A financial institution chartered in this state which
   68  maintains a correspondent account or a payable-through account
   69  with a foreign financial institution must establish due
   70  diligence policies, procedures, and controls reasonably designed
   71  to detect whether the United States Secretary of the Treasury
   72  has found that the foreign financial institution knowingly:
   73         (a) Facilitates the efforts of the Government of Iran,
   74  including efforts of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, to
   75  acquire or develop weapons of mass destruction or their delivery
   76  systems;
   77         (b) Provides support for an organization designated by the
   78  United States as a foreign terrorist organization;
   79         (c) Facilitates the activities of a person who is subject
   80  to financial sanctions pursuant to a resolution of the United
   81  Nations Security Council imposing sanctions on Iran;
   82         (d) Engages in money laundering to carry out any activity
   83  listed in this subsection;
   84         (e) Facilitates efforts by the Central Bank of Iran or any
   85  other Iranian financial institution to carry out an activity
   86  listed in this subsection; or
   87         (f) Facilitates a significant transaction or provides
   88  significant financial services for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
   89  Corps or its agents or affiliates, or any financial institution,
   90  whose property or interests in property are blocked pursuant to
   91  federal law in connection with Iran’s proliferation of weapons
   92  of mass destruction, or delivery systems for those weapons, or
   93  Iran’s support for international terrorism.
   94         (3) By July 1, 2012, the Office of Financial Regulation
   95  shall adopt rules establishing minimum standards for due
   96  diligence policies, procedures, and controls required by this
   97  section.
   98         (4) By January 1, 2013, and each January 1 thereafter, each
   99  financial institution chartered in this state must certify to
  100  the Office of Financial Regulation that the financial
  101  institution has adopted and substantially complies with its due
  102  diligence policies, procedures, and controls required by this
  103  section and the rules of the Office of Financial Regulation, and
  104  that to the best knowledge of the financial institution, the
  105  financial institution does not maintain a correspondent account
  106  or a payable-through account with a foreign financial
  107  institution that knowingly engages in any act described in
  108  subsection (2).
  109         (5) By January 31, 2013, and each January 31 thereafter,
  110  the Office of Financial Regulation must submit a report to the
  111  Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the
  112  House of Representatives which contains a copy of the rules
  113  required under subsection (2) and the status of the
  114  certifications of compliance received from the financial
  115  institutions charted in this state.
  116         (6) The Office of the Chief Financial Officer shall make
  117  its annual compliance report under this section available on its
  118  website.
  119         (7) The Office of Financial Regulation may impose a civil
  120  penalty, not to exceed $100,000 per occurrence, against a
  121  financial institution that fails to make the annual
  122  certification required under subsection (4).
  123         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.