4 The timing aligns closely with the first Summit for Democracy, which Biden will host on December 9 and 10 and will be followed by a second summit roughly a year later. The anti-corruption strategy that Biden ordered to be completed by Decemshould feature the most sweeping plan to regulate non-bank professional enablers in U.S. Stage III: Without congressional support, Treasury should dedicate fewer resources to Stage II and instead focus the last two years of the Biden administration on repealing regulatory exemptions for sectors like real estate agents and sellers of yachts and jets, and sealing up cracks in the rules for cryptocurrencies and other money services businesses.Stage II: After that, the regulatory trajectory should depend on whether Congress delivers the strong political support that Treasury would need to take on the four most problematic sectors: lawyers, trust and company service providers, accountants, and covert public relations operatives.Stage I: During Biden’s Summit for Democracy in December 2021, Treasury should announce that it is embarking upon a campaign to regulate enablers, starting with the three lowest hanging fruit: investment advisors, title insurers, and art dealers.This report aims to fill that gap by sorting out those differences and recommending an order of prioritization for Treasury based on five timing considerations that vary significantly across the top ten sectors of enablers: how severely the lack of regulation threatens national security, whether mandatory deadlines are coming up, whether regulations are already drafted, how much experience FinCEN and each sector have with each other, and how much legal and political pushback regulations would unleash.īased on those factors, this report recommends that Treasury strategically sequence a major regulatory rollout over the next few years, starting with easy wins before gauging the political appetite for harder fights: There is little comprehensive research on which sectors pose the greatest national security threats, which regulatory efforts require additional statutory authorities or at least broad political support, and what other timing considerations should inform Treasury’s plan to expand regulation to cover enablers. 3 Moreover, there is limited consensus among policymakers and experts about which sectors of enablers FinCEN should prioritize regulation of between now and the end of Biden’s four-year term. Treasury Department responsible for AML regulation. One implementation challenge is the severe underfunding of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the bureau within the U.S. departments and agencies to develop a presidential anti-corruption strategy within 200 days-included a prominent warning about the threat of U.S.-based professional enablers who move and launder dirty money. 1 President Joe Biden’s memorandum prioritizing the fight against corruption as a core national security interest-and ordering U.S. lawmakers, law enforcement, civil society, and other stakeholders. non-bank enablers do not need to have compliance officers, trainings, audits, and controls reasonably designed to spot potential money laundering by identifying customers, scrutinizing transactions, keeping records, and reporting suspicious activity to the government.įortunately, that may change soon, as the regulation of enablers has become a top priority among U.S. That is, unlike enablers based in more than 90 percent of the world, U.S. Unfortunately, the United States is among the less than 10 percent of countries that do not require non-bank enablers to establish anti-money laundering (AML) programs, which are mandatory for banks. national security by facilitating corruption. Regulators should prioritize six or seven sectors of professionals known to gravely endanger U.S. government should promulgate new financial regulations-similar to existing rules for banks-that would require non-bank enablers to watch out for dirty money. professionals, including lawyers, real estate agents, hedge fund managers, and others. democracy, their financial secrecy relies upon the services of ten sectors of U.S. When kleptocrats, foreign intelligence services, homegrown autocrats, and other malign actors weaponize corruption to undermine U.S.
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