ICYMI: Modern Financial Crime

Earlier this week, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security held a hearing on how the Bank Secrecy Act should be updated to account for modern financial crimes. Financial criminals are becoming more sophisticated every day. It is crucial that enforcement and detection systems are dynamic, modern, and agile.

Carole House, a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, noted that hostile actors target the trust and stability on which the economy is built.

• "Adversaries seeking to undermine American power are targeting the trust, transparency, and integrity of the financial system that underwrites our alliances, funds our foreign policy, and gives the dollar its meaning."

Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy for TRM Labs, emphasized that criminal networks find and exploit any gaps in security left open—and that those gaps must be closed through innovation.

• "I have seen how these criminal networks operate and how they exploit every gap we leave open. We must close those gaps, and we must do so by innovating faster than our adversaries."

National Security Subcommittee Chairman Warren Davidson (R-OH) noted that as criminals use more advanced technology, society must use equally advanced tools to counter them.

• "As we focus on risk, we must also ensure that tools like artificial intelligence are fully deployed to counter the AI-enabled crimes of today. A wait-and-see approach that distrusts rapidly maturing AI systems will tie financial institutions' hands behind their back, letting the bad guys continue to move money at the speed of the Internet while law enforcement is stuck in the 70s. If we truly want to stop money laundering by the criminals, scammers, and terrorists of this century, not the last, it's time we change course."

National Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Joyce Beatty (D-OH) stated that now more than ever, it is crucial to provide enforcement with the tools needed to protect families and the financial system.

• "Now more than ever, we must strengthen enforcement against financial crime and give Treasury and law enforcement the tools they need to protect families' hard-earned savings and preserve the integrity of our financial system."

Modern financial crime is a crisis that requires a holistic and dynamic response. The Ledger Project is heartened to see members of Congress taking this issue seriously and looks forward to further efforts to fight fraud and safeguard our economy.

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