Mutual Funds May be Required to Report Suspicious Transactions

The U.S. Treasury has proposed a rule that all mutual fund companies be required to report any suspicious financial transactions, hoping to net drug dealers, terrorists and launderers, according to the Associated Press.

The new rule, published in the Federal Register Thursday, requires mutual funds to file such reports within 180 days of such suspicious transactions involving $5,000 or more.

The rule would have mutual fund companies act more like banks, securities firms, money services businesses and casinos.

"Suspicious activity reporting by mutual funds is expected to provide highly useful information to both law enforcement and regulators and will be an additional tool to protect the U.S. financial system from terrorism and other illicit finance," said Robert Werner, director of the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.