The onerous burden to banks from BSA and its anti-money laundering provisions, the required monitoring and policing money service businesses, The USA Patriot Act, OFAC, and other related regulations have placed a near choke-hold on community banks whose resources are limited.  The addition of staff necessary to perform all that is required erodes the ability to achieve financial results required to meet shareholder expectations and places additional pressure on an already burgeoning overhead expense.

While I and this bank strongly support the goals of BSA and related regulations and the significant value derived that helps protect and make our country better it seems that too much of the responsibility has been shifted away from Federal Agencies and law enforcement to the banks.  We in Community Banks desperately need some regulatory relief from these regulations that have progressively become near overwhelming.

Thank you for the comment opportunity.

Steve Ottinger, Senior Vice President
Greene County Bank
Greeneville, Tennessee