Financial Access Protection Act

Financial Access Protection Act (S. 4450, 119th Congress)

Purpose and intent

• The bill aims to prohibit covered financial institutions from collecting, maintaining, or disclosing information about a consumer’s citizenship status or immigration status.
• It seeks to protect consumer privacy related to citizenship/immigration information and reduce the risk that such data could be used in ways that affect access to financial services.

Key provisions and changes

• Definition section clarifies terms, including:
  • Covered financial institution: includes insured depository institutions (banks, thrifts), insured credit unions, consumer reporting agencies, and certain bank/finance holding companies and their affiliates supervised by federal banking agencies.
  • Other defined terms reference the Bank Secrecy Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and related regulatory bodies.
• Prohibition on collection and handling of citizenship/immigration data (Section 3(a)):
  • A covered financial institution may not:
  • Require a consumer or prospective consumer to disclose citizenship status or immigration status as a condition of opening, maintaining, or accessing an account or financial service.
  • Request, collect, record, retain, maintain, or obtain information relating to citizenship or immigration status.
  • Transmit, report, disclose, or make available such information to any federal agency or other governmental entity.
• Prohibition on regulatory action (Section 3(b)):
  • Federal banking agencies may not:
  • Require or encourage institutions to collect or maintain citizenship/immigration information.
  • Condition supervisory ratings, enforcement actions, approvals, or other regulatory outcomes on collection/reporting of citizenship/immigration data.
• Enforcement (Section 3(c)):
  • Each appropriate federal banking agency is charged with enforcing these provisions.
• Clarifications (Section 3(d)):
  • The act does not:
  • Alter or limit obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act.
  • Prevent institutions from complying with lawful reporting requirements related to prevention of financial crimes (money laundering, sanctions, etc.).

Who or what would be affected

• Covered financial institutions listed in the bill:
  • Insured depository institutions (banks, savings associations).
  • Insured credit unions.
  • Consumer reporting agencies.
  • National banks, Federal savings associations, state member banks, nonmember banks, bank holding companies, savings and loan holding companies, and their affiliates/subsidiaries under federal supervision.
• Consumers and prospective customers of these institutions would be protected from being asked for or having citizenship/immigration status collected or disclosed in routine banking interactions.

Procedural and timeline aspects

• Introduced in the Senate by Angela Alsobrooks on April 30, 2026.
• The bill was read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
• No specific effective date or phase-in schedule is provided in the text provided; typical implementation details would be determined during committee/passage, including potential rulemaking timelines.

Practical impact

• Strengthens privacy protections by restricting the collection and sharing of citizenship/immigration status by covered financial institutions.
• Aims to prevent potential discrimination or barriers to financial access based on nationality or immigration status.
• Maintains existing anti-financial-crime and regulatory disclosure obligations, ensuring compliance with BSA-related requirements and sanctions/AML frameworks.

If you’d like, I can map the bill’s provisions to a side-by-side comparison with current law or draft a one-page briefing for a bipartisan audience.