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The Treasury Department on June 12 released new guidelines that enable banks to share customer information with greater ease when they suspect fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal activity.
The guidelines outline the circumstances under which financial institutions can exchange data in real time, while protected from liability, to improve the identification and reporting of suspected crime.
A Treasury Department fact sheet issued on June 12 states that participation is voluntary but strongly encouraged.
It lists types of information that financial institutions can share, including video surveillance footage, Internet Protocol addresses, and “fraud indicators like newly added payees followed by large transfers, multiple accounts with the same or similar identifying information, and login activity from geographically distant places.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stressed the need to fight fraud.
“Americans lose hundreds of billions of dollars to fraud each year,” he said in a June 12 statement. “At Treasury, we follow the money, and we know financial institutions are often the first to see suspicious activity in real time. They need the tools to act quickly and share information that can help stop fraud before it spreads.”
The Treasury Department move comes after a May executive order from President Donald Trump that directs regulators to create methods for banks to examine customers’ citizenship and immigration status upon opening accounts, obtaining loans, or securing credit cards.
Banks are not required to collect citizenship information up front, as the guidance calls upon institutions to identify suspicious patterns and report illicit activity.
On June 5, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network outlined red flags for Suspicious Activity Reports involving non-work authorized individuals.
“Specifically, when an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number is presented in lieu of a Social Security number or valid employment authorization document to obtain credit products or open an account, banks are encouraged to assess whether the use of an [Individual Taxpayer Identification Number] may be a relevant risk factor,” a June 5 statement reads.
The newer guidance is part of a broader push to expand the use of Suspicious Activity Reports and information sharing in this area.
The Treasury Department has taken numerous actions along the same lines. In November 2025, the administration reclassified certain refundable tax credits as federal public benefits, barring some immigrant taxpayers from receiving the credits even when they file returns and pay taxes.
Earlier this year, Bessent noted that an executive order addressing citizenship proof for banking was in the works.
“And I don’t think it’s unreasonable, because, why don’t we have information on who’s in our banking system?” he told the Semafor news platform in an April 13 interview.
“I have a place in the UK; they want to know who lives in every apartment—and how do we know that it’s not part of a foreign terrorist organization?”
Kimberly Hayek is a reporter for The Epoch Times. She covers California news and has worked as an editor and on scene at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2018 migrant caravan crisis.
