“Change is in the air” with respect to federal banking regulation, and that change has been overwhelmingly positive, American Bankers Association President and CEO Rob Nichols told attendees today at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference in Arlington, Virginia.
Bankers from across the nation gathered at the conference for three days of sessions and networking on key compliance topics, ranging from anti-money laundering enforcement reform to a new law on stablecoins. Nichols kicked off the event with an overview of the policy outlook for the banking sector with respect to financial crime and compliance.
“One year ago, we were caught up in what I called the regulatory tsunami, ABA had several legal challenges in play, and we were dealing with a slew of new rules and guidance that, quite frankly, were not supporting banks to serve their customers, clients and communities,” Nichols said.
Today, leadership at banking agencies “fully appreciate and understand” how banks work, he said. “They understand the pain points, and they are deeply invested in creating a regulatory framework that is appropriately tailored and ensures that banks’ compliance resources are being used efficiently and effectively.”
According to Nichols, bankers are ready for meaningful reform to reduce the compliance burden while ensuring they remain focused on keeping bad actors out of the financial system. Among other things, he noted efforts underway to revise currency transaction reporting, suspicious activity reporting and the customer due diligence rule.
“As we continue to forge ahead with the policy objectives I just outlined, our goal is twofold — to promote safety and soundness in the banking sector while empowering banks to shift resources from low-risk customers and activities to tracking down actual illicit activity,” he said.
