Banking and compliance experts tend to agree with regulators that the year-old beneficial ownership rules are helping to enhance financial transparency, but that Congress still needs to do more to help banks make it work. One key need: The collection of information.

That view emerged this week from testimony before a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The awareness of various challenges, including getting information to verify ownership, also arose from a recently released survey of more than 200 commercial banks and credit unions by RSM US LLP, an audit and consulting firm.