Some of their details seem different from what is reported so far in this thread.
""These government agencies with the catchy, high-sounding names," writes the Sovereign Man's Simon Black, "are always the most dangerous. After all, it was the 'Committee for Public Safety' that was responsible for wanton genocide during the post-revolution Reign of Terror in France.
"Recently, the CFPB 'encouraged' retail banks in the Land of the Free to 'help' their customers regarding international wire transfers. And by 'help,' they mean prohibit."
Mr. Black is referring to letters sent by JPMorgan Chase's to its customers. Effective Nov. 17, depositors who bank with them won't be able to send international money wires, nor will they be able to withdraw more than $50,000 of their money in cash per statement cycle.
---- photo of Chase letter appeared here ----
"This is the very nature of capital controls," slams Black, "restricting the free flow of capital across borders until it is trapped inside the country and forcibly denominated in a rapidly devaluing currency."
It's not only Chase that's imposing wire transfer restrictions. HSBC is preventing its depositors from wiring money to their accounts overseas. That is, if Americans still have bank accounts overseas. In 2010, the Foreign Tax Compliance Act or FATCA was slipped into a last-minute piece of legislation -- the HIRE Act. It forces foreign banks to follow IRS reporting requirements for any American depositors. In response, most foreign banks are simply not letting Americans open accounts with them because it's not worth the trouble."
Update:
A later newsletter from a different branch of Agora Financial (publisher of the Daily Reckoning, see above) dated Oct. 18 suggests that the Chase story is overblown, but still not insignificant. Their conclusion:
"Blame it on the Patriot Act and the IRS requirements to flag cash transactions. It's not new... but the regulators are beating up on the banks a bit more these days, so they have to go through the motions of looking "more" compliant. Especially JPM, which has forked over $8 billion in fines since 2011 for assorted misdeeds, both real and imagined."