The House Committee on Financial Services has a busy day planned. Frist, a full Committee hearing is scheduled to address “Oversight of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network” or FinCEN.
FinCEN is the enforcement arm of the US Department of Treasury. Himamauli “Him” Das, Acting Director of FinCEN, will visit with the Committee at 10 AM ET today (April 28).
FinCEN is a lead agency responsible for implementing, and enforcing compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and other statutes pursuing and enforcing anti-money laundering laws, and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). This includes regulations and policies for banks and other financial institutions to defend against illicit activity. Recently, FinCEN has been busy with sanctions on Russian oligarchs as part of the policy aiming to undermine Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.
Most certainly, digital assets or cryptocurrency will be an area of discussion as regulators have targeted this sector as a possible path for bad actors to hide or move illicit gains.
Later in the day, the Task Force on Financial Technology (Fintech) will hold a hearing on mobile banking and payments, entitled “What’s in Your Digital Wallet? A Review of Recent Trends in Mobile Banking and Payments.”
The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:
- Raúl Carrillo, Associate Research Scholar, Yale Law School; Deputy Director, Law and Political Economy Project
- Mishi Choudhary, Legal Director, Software Freedom Law Center
- Renita Marcellin, Senior Policy Analyst, Americans for Financial Reform
- Kia McAllister-Young, Director, America Saves, Consumer Federation of America
- Scott Talbott, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Electronic Transactions Association
It must be noted there are no providers or industry participants on the list indicating a weak lineup of perspectives. Why is there no PayPal? Where is a digital bank or neo-bank? Shouldn’t they be sharing their boots on the ground experience? The Hearing Memo states:
“Digital wallet providers have been subject to investigations from financial regulators and have been involved in recent litigation. In October 2021, in advance of a potential rulemaking, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an order to collect information regarding payments products from large technology companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, PayPal, and Square.”
Ok, good to know, but why are none of these providers available to share their opinion?
The Fintech Taskforce meeting will take place today at 2 PM ET. Both Hearings will be live-streamed on the Committee’s website.