Treasury seeks fraud reports from small lenders

The Obama administration on Monday introduced a proposal that would require thousands of independent mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers not affiliated with banks to file reports to the Treasury Department when fraud or money-laundering schemes are suspected. Specifically, these institutions, like other financial institutions, would be required to set up anti-money laundering programs and file special reports to the Treasury Department when they come across suspicious transactions or suspect fraud schemes, based on the proposal. The institutions would file the reports to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, a division of Treasury.