Political Quotes

“I appreciate the majority moving H.R. 2514, the COUNTER Act of 2019, again, this week, as a standalone piece of legislation. Both Republicans and Democrats agree, protecting the financial system from bad actors is a priority. We must give financial institutions the tools and resources they need to fight these bad actors. According to a 2016 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, from January 2009 to December 2015, Federal agencies assessed roughly $5.1 billion in fines, forfeitures, and penalties for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering regulations, often referred to as BSA/AML. A separate 2016 analysis of anti-money laundering enforcement found that penalties and fines for BSA violations significantly increased since the 2008 financial crisis. This report concluded that regulators had become more aggressive in pursuing BSA violations in the wake of the crisis. However, this data is from 2016. We know that the current enforcement regime is outdated. Technology has outpaced the tools and resources available to Federal agencies to pursue these bad actors. H.R. 2514 makes important changes to strengthen BSA and AML enforcement. The bill includes key aspects of the BSA/AML reform package from last Congress, including a provision that allows for tailored information-sharing by financial institutions with their foreign branches to better identify suspicious activity.…”