ANALYSIS: Congress and Regulators Encourage AML RegTech in 2021

In December, Congress and federal banking regulators ended the annus horribilis of 2020 with a flurry of actions to encourage the growth of innovative solutions that could relieve current anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory compliance burdens.

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA), enacted as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), includes several provisions that address regulatory technology (RegTech) innovation directly or require regulators to consider actions that will involve RegTech. Even ahead of Congress’s mandate, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Dec. 17 and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Dec. 15 ...