Biden’s Radical Agenda? Jim Richards on the Implications for the Fight Against FinCrime

The Biden Presidency – less than six months old – has been a surprise to many who expected that the vicissitudes of the past four years and the challenges of the pandemic would lead to a period of stability over change. Instead, President Biden seems to have decided to take a different approach, pushing forward with far-reaching economic policies such as the extensive COVID-19 relief act. As some have suggested, if Biden campaigned as a moderate, he appears eager to govern as a radical.

But what does this mean for the US’s efforts to tackle financial crime, and can we expect that the President will bring a similarly radical edge to its handling? With the passing of the new Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) just prior to Biden’s inauguration, he appears to have political room to take forward more extensive changes to the US’s anti-financial crimes strategy if he so wishes. But while there are indications he might take them, with a doubling of expenditure on the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and a wide-ranging review of the US sanctions regime in prospect, it is not yet clear whether reforms will be as radical as many in the industry currently hope.

In this session, Jim Richards, the founder and principal of RegTech Consulting, and Wells Fargo’s Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Officer for 13 years, will provide an overview of the Biden administration’s opening performance on financial crime, and provide participants with informed judgements on where it might go next, and what challenges it is likely to face. A popular speaker on US issues from our last conference in March, we are delighted to welcome Jim back to the FinCrime World Conference.