End Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2025
The End Banking for Human Traffickers Act of 2025 would boost the financial sector’s role in preventing money laundering linked to severe forms of human trafficking. It requires a near-term, joint review by the Financial Institutions Examination Council and Treasury in consultation with victims, advocates, and law enforcement to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) programs, improve referrals of suspected trafficking cases to authorities, and assess whether current financial-sector requirements adequately deter trafficking-related money laundering. It also directs an interagency task force to produce recommendations within about nine months, including best practices from banks, input from stakeholders (including victims), training improvements, information-sharing enhancements, and potential changes to law to address emerging technologies and virtual currencies. Finally, the bill adds a new reporting requirement to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to assess whether foreign governments have frameworks to prevent and investigate financial transactions tied to trafficking proceeds.
Key Points
- 1Required review by FFIEC and Treasury (within 180 days): evaluate and strengthen training and examination procedures for AML/CFT to detect trafficking-related transactions; improve referral procedures to law enforcement; and assess whether current financial-institution requirements are sufficient to deter trafficking-related money laundering.
- 2Interagency Task Force recommendations (within 270 days): the Task Force To Monitor and Combat Trafficking must analyze U.S. AML efforts related to trafficking and offer recommendations, including:
- 3- feedback from financial institutions on effective programs and practices;
- 4- stakeholder input from victims, advocates, and financial institutions on policy proposals;
- 5- suggested changes to employee training, internal policies, procedures, and controls;
- 6- recommended improvements to information sharing among banks, law enforcement, and federal agencies;
- 7- potential statutory changes to address money laundering involving emerging technologies and virtual currencies.
- 8Limitations: the act does not grant the Interagency Task Force rulemaking authority; it also clarifies it should not cause financial institutions to deny services to trafficking victims or those not responsible for trafficking.
- 9Definitions: clarifies terms for the act, including what constitutes a Federal banking agency, what counts as severe forms of trafficking, what the Interagency Task Force is, and what a law enforcement agency encompasses.
- 10TVPA 2000 amendment: adds a new requirement to Section 108(b) asking whether a country has a framework to prevent financial transactions from trafficking proceeds and whether steps are being taken to implement it, including investigation and punishment of those who run such transactions (to the extent feasible given the country’s capacity).