The war on terror soon moves to the banking system in the state. Starting October first, financial institutions in Missouri and across the nation will be required to collect certain information from their customers as part of the Patriot Act. Carol Barnett with the Missouri Bankers Association says banks will now have to collect names, addresses, date of birth and taxpayer idenitification, which is usually a Social Security number. In addition to the information collection, banks will be required to check customers’ names against a government-provided list of known or suspected terrorists. Barnett, though, says it won’t be up to the banks to apprehend anyone. That will be up to the federal authorities. Barnett couldn’t answer whether a match on the terrorist list would prohibit a bank from opening an account for an individual.
