Business Notes Banking

According to the Treasury Department, the biggest laundry in San Francisco handles neither shirts nor sheets. Last week, Treasury fined Crocker National Bank $2.25 million for "extensive noncompliance" with the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to report cash transactions over $10,000. John Walker, the Treasury enforcement chief, said that San Francisco-based Crocker failed to notify the Government of 7,877 cash deals worth $3.9 billion between 1980 and 1984. Most of them were transfers of U.S. currency from six banks in Hong Kong.

"There is no evidence that the bank itself deliberately engaged in money laundering," Walker conceded. But he noted that Hong Kong has become a "substantial center" for international drug trafficking, and speculated that the cash deposits "could well have originated with illegal drug transactions."

Crocker joins a growing list of banks fined for violating federal rules. The Bank of Boston had to pay $500,000 last February for failing to report $1.22 billion in transfers. In June four large New York banks were given penalties totaling $1.2 million. Some 60 banks are still under Treasury investigation for possible violations. Said Walker: "I urge you to stay tuned."