Bush Scores Last Touchdown Pt 2

Late yesterday, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve pushed through its final rules for financial institutions following the 2006 UIGEA bill, despite protests from Barney Frank (D-Mass) to postpone until the incoming Obama administration could review it and make a decision itself.

Looks like Deputy Director of Public Liaisons William Wichterman, appointed by President Bush himself, has rushed to push this final regulation through.

Effective January 19, 2009, companies actually have until December 1, 2009 to comply.

What are these rules?
After consulting with the Department of Justice, the new rules require "US financial firms that participate in designated payment systems to establish and implement policies that are reasonably designed to prevent payments to businesses in connection with unlawful Internet gambling."

According to the Treasury's statement: "For the purposes of the rule, unlawful Internet gambling generally would cover the making of a bet or wager that involves use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any applicable federal or state law."

Any payments made through clearing house systems, credit card, check collection and wire transfers will all be affected under these new rules.

A little help, please
Financial institutions have repeatedly asked for a list of businesses involved in "unlawful Internet gambling," to explain the roundabout language of the law.

So once again, it is left up to the banks themselves to distinguish what customer payments they handle, if any, fall under these new rules. Not a clever use of the financial institutions time in the midst of a financial crisis...