Jeb Hensarling: “Quoting from his testimony, Mr. Speaker, ``In my bank during the past year, we filed 2,766 cash transaction reports, and…”

“Quoting from his testimony, Mr. Speaker, ``In my bank during the past year, we filed 2,766 cash transaction reports, and we do not have any public companies as customers. In fact, most of these CTRs were filed for ordinary transactions by an ice cream parlor, a clam bar, a restaurant and a high-volume Amoco dealer, all of whom have done business with us for many, many years. My tellers spent more than 460 hours in the branches preparing the CTR forms, and one person in our main office spent more than 1,000 hours checking the forms for accuracy, checking them against computer printouts, and filing the forms with the appropriate government office. Having watched this process for years, and being thoroughly familiar with the businesses that are the subject of these filings, I can tell you with firm assurance that all of this time and paper did absolutely nothing to advance our collective efforts to thwart money laundering and terrorism.'' That is just one small community banker in America. We know they are spread throughout the Nation. In fact, it was over a decade ago, Mr. Speaker, that the GAO concluded that unnecessary reporting was taking place. I am sorry to say that, 10 years later, it still is taking place. So many of these banks are filing these cash transaction reports defensively, and yet we know that we still have the know-your-customer regime that is in place.…”