Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen's Testimony on AML/CFT

Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, David Cohen, testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs regarding anti-money laundering ("AML") and counter-terrorist financing regulations ("CFT").

In his testimony, Cohen expressed his belief that the current AML/CFT regime within the U.S. is one of the strongest in the world. Cohen described how the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN"), which implements the Bank Secrecy Act ("BSA"), is the backbone of the U.S. fight against money laundering. He also described the modernization of FinCEN through the creation of a new search tool ("FinCEN Query"), the enhancement of compliance and enforcement functions, and the opening of a dialogue with the major financial institutions (e.g., Delta Team project). According to Cohen, success will depend on an enhancement of customer due diligence and a successful push towards an international effort to strengthen the global AML/CFT network.

View testimony in full here (links externally to Senate Banking website).