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      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4042"> Housing costs</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4050"> Education</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4049"> Recreational marijuana</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4048"> Health care</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4047"> Job market</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4046"> Inflation</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4045"> Abortion amendments</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4044"> Immigration</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4043"> Property insurance rates</li>
      <li style="padding: 0; margin: 10px 0;"><input type="radio" name="answer_id" value="4051"> Other (Let us know in the comment section below)</li>
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January 12, 2024


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INTERNATIONAL BANKING: AN ACT OF FAITH

David Villano | 3/1/2004

Florida's international bankers are putting a positive spin on the Patriot Act's
stiff new banking regulations, most of which are intended to deter money
launderers and to ferret out assets of terrorist groups. In the long run, they
say, better scrutiny of customers and their transactions can only be good for
business.

But privately many bankers are grumbling about the costs and inconvenience of
compliance. Many banks are adding full-time staff to handle the paperwork while
worrying whether secrecy-minded customers will transfer their business offshore.
By one estimate, each bank must spend upward of $150,000 just to upgrade
software. Meanwhile, even law-abiding customers are facing annoying delays while
compliance officers scrutinize new account applications.

"The cost of compliance is huge," says Bowman Brown, an attorney specializing in
international finance with the Miami office of Shutts & Bowen. "Everyone is
feeling the pressure." Bowman says the new regulations are causing some smaller
banks to rethink their strategy. "Nobody's going to pull out or sell their
operations in Florida just because of " the Patriot Act regulations, "but in a
climate of ongoing consolidation it certainly is an element they consider."

Digging deep
The Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, requires banks to dig far more deeply into customers' personal and
business histories.

In some cases, bankers have reported traveling overseas to verify that a
business actually exists. Some bankers say the responsibilities of compliance
officers and federal law enforcement officials are blurred. For example, one
provision of the act requires banks to closely screen any transaction involving
senior political figures in foreign countries -- a murky category of customers
who may rely on government resources to hide their identity and assets.

The jury is out on the long-term impact of the tighter regulations. While some
worry that customers will flee overseas, others note that U.S. pressure
eventually will force many offshore banking centers to adopt similar compliance
requirements, thereby eliminating their competitive edge.

Of greater concern may be the impact on trade and international business
transactions. "We talk about free trade and lowering barriers, but all this
tightened security may very well discourage people from doing trade-related
business," says banking analyst and Wharton lecturer Ken Thomas.

But David Konfino, past president of the Florida International Bankers
Association and chief of the international banking group at Union Planters Bank,
is not worried. He says that Florida, with a history of money laundering and
shady deal-making, has long attracted tough regulatory oversight. Florida's
international bankers and their customers, he says, will adapt. "Yes, the
Patriot Act is a burden, but here in Florida we've been dealing with these kinds
of concerns for a very long time."

Inside International Banking

Inside Word: International banking experts are predicting a flurry of
conversions this year from foreign bank agencies (whose services are largely
limited to financing trade and other international transactions) to foreign
branches, which operate much like domestic banks, providing private banking
services and commercial loans. Many foreign bankers believe that such
conversions will allow them to attract customers from their home countries
either living in Florida or having assets here. Spain's Banco de Sabadell is
among those in the conversion process.

Outlook: Florida's international banking sector has been flat over the past two
years, a response to a weak U.S. economy and economic uncertainty throughout
Latin America. But with Latin economies stabilizing -- up an estimated 3% in
2004, according to Terry McCoy, director of University of Florida's Latin
American Business Environment Program -- and with the U.S. picking up steam,
many bankers expect a strong year ahead in both private banking and trade
financing. "We're preparing for an upswing," says Seno A. Bril, general manager
of the Miami office of Paris-based BNP Paribas.

Deals: Last year, Spain's banking giant, Santander Central Hispano, acquired The
Royal Bank of Scotland Group's Latin American private banking operation. With
rising operating costs squeezing some smaller players, analysts say Florida's 39
remaining foreign bank offices will continue to eye one another for mergers and
acquisitions.

New Players: Medellin-based Bancolombia is the latest foreign bank to set up
shop in Florida, and the only one in 2003. The 58-year-old bank opened a bank
agency, its first in the U.S., last December on downtown Miami's Brickell
Avenue. The only foreign bank waiting for state approval to operate in Florida
is Honduras-based Banco Ficohsa.

Street Talk: The federal government has created a Miami-based interagency task
force charged with locating and seizing assets embezzled by corrupt government
officials in Latin America and laundering them through U.S. banks. Officials say
the unit is tracking nine cases, including one involving a Nicaraguan tax
collector and another involving senior officials in the government of outgoing
Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo. Meanwhile, the Florida International
Bankers Association, whose membership includes 72 banks and financial
institutions from 19 countries, is sponsoring its Anti-Money Laundering and USA
Patriot Act Compliance Conference March 11-12 in Miami.

Hot Spot: The fortunes of the Brickell Avenue financial district -- Florida's
undisputed international banking center -- rise and fall with the state of Latin
America's economies. But that's changing. With a number of new condo towers and
mixed-use retail/entertainment projects in the works, the district is rapidly
diversifying, attracting professionals from other sectors.



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Florida Business News

 * Florida should be able to lower rent, lease sales tax for businesses soon
   
   A reduction in a state tax on commercial leases could begin earlier than
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   the state's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which was depleted during
   the COVID-19 pandemic.

 * Business Beat - Week of January 12th
   
   Get top news-to-know with Florida Trend's headline-focused video news brief,
   hosted by digital content specialist Aimée Alexander.

 * Column: Florida’s oldest county is really old. Here’s why that matters.
   
   Financial data shows that as retirees age, they spend less on discretionary
   things. Florida already has a higher percentage of its total population that
   doesn’t work compared to most other states.

 * Florida may use Seminole gambling money for wildlife corridor
   
   Legislative leaders may use gambling money to help pay for further expansion
   of a state wildlife corridor and other environmental projects.

 * Is the calabaza the next great gourd for growers in Florida?
   
   If you have eaten at various Caribbean, Central, or South American
   restaurants, you might be familiar with a specialty pumpkin called the
   calabaza. Florida scientists hoping the gourd is ripe for a new industry.

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Florida families, businesses continue to feel impacts of inflation





A new report on December inflation numbers from the Labor Department showed that
overall prices rose 0.3% from November and 3.4% from 12 months earlier.
Consumers and business owners continue to feel the effects of increasing
housing, energy, and food prices.



Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

What do you feel is the top issue Floridians faced in 2023?

 * Housing costs
 * Education
 * Recreational marijuana
 * Health care
 * Job market
 * Inflation
 * Abortion amendments
 * Immigration
 * Property insurance rates
 * Other (Let us know in the comment section below)



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