In response to the September 11th
terrorist attacks, Congress passed the U.S. Patriot Act (Patriot Act).
This Act broadens the power of the United States government in its
attempts to detect and deter terrorists.
Part of this Act is to prevent the
financing of terrorists. Terrorists obtain their financing from
various sources. One such source is money laundering.
In the past, banking institutions have
been required to prevent money laundering through their institutions.
One portion of the Patriot Act expands the requirement from banking
institutions to all financial institutions. This includes the
insurance industry.
Under the Patriot Act, the insurance
industry is now required to try to prevent money laundering through
their products.
To accomplish this, insurance companies
are required to implement an anti-money laundering program. They are
required to train all key employees and to train all insurance agents
on the anti-money laundering program that is in place.
Each insurance company will have a
different anti-money laundering program because the programs are
tailored to fit each insurance company's specific business and
products.
