WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhuanet) -- The Bush administration plans to expand the government's database of financial transactions by gaining access to logs of international wire transfers into and out of American banks in an effort to trace and deter terrorist financing, The New York Times report Sunday.

    The initiative, conceived by a working group within the Treasury Department, was being developed even as many bankers say they already feel besieged by government antiterrorism rules that they consider overly burdensome, the report said.

    The effort, which grew out of a brief, little-noticed provision in the intelligence reform bill passed by Congress in December, would give government officials the tools to track leads on specific suspects and, more broadly, to analyze patterns in terrorist financing and other financial crimes.

    The provision authorized the Treasury Department to pursue regulations requiring financial institutions to turn over "certain cross-border electronic transmittals of funds" that may be needed in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

    The US government's aggressive tactics since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have already caused something of a backlash among banking compliance officers - and even some federal officials, whosay the effort has gone too far in penalizing the financial sectorfor lapses and has effectively criminalized what were once seen astechnical violations.

    The initiative, still in its preliminary stages, reflects heightened concerns by administration and Congressional officials about the government's ability to track and disrupt financing for terrorist operations by Al Qaeda and other groups, the report said.Enditem