The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced their endorsement of the Wolfsberg Group’s publication of the Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire to help address the decline in the number of correspondent banking relationships. The questionnaire aims to standardize the collection of information that correspondent banks ask from other banks when opening and maintaining these relationships which should alleviate the need for correspondent banks to “de-risk” otherwise viable financial institutions from their customer base.  This “de-risking” has been a source of concern for credit unions and can impact their ability to send and receive international payments or connect to various payment flows. 

WOCCU is pleased to see this development as it has long advocated for measures to reduce de-risking including supporting using the Wolfsberg Group Questionnaire (See letter to the Basel Committee from February 2017).  Additionally, WOCCU engaged with FATF (See July 2017 letter, April 2017 letter, and August 2016 letter) for measures to address the issue.  This endorsement is welcome news and should assist credit unions with their correspondent banking relationships.