Navigating Innovation and Risk: Shaping the Future of AML Compliance

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery at the 2026 Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference

Good morning and welcome to SIFMA’s 26th Annual Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference. I’m Bernard Canepa, Managing Director and Associate General Counsel at SIFMA. It is my pleasure to welcome you to this conference, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to meet and speak with you over the next two days.

This conference remains one of SIFMA’s core offerings because of the critical role each of you plays in protecting the financial system from illicit activity and preserving the integrity, resiliency, and effectiveness of our capital markets. The financial crimes landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes, emerging technologies, geopolitical risks, and new business models all contributing to a more complex operating environment for firms. This conference provides an important forum for the industry, policymakers, regulators, and law enforcement to come together to discuss these developments, share best practices, and better understand what is shaping AML and financial crimes compliance programs today.

SIFMA remains actively engaged on behalf of our members across a broad range of anti-money laundering and financial crimes issues.

In April, SIFMA released a white paper prepared by SIFMA’s Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Committee and Sanctions Working Group, with assistance from Debevoise & Plimpton. The paper highlights how the rapid expansion of sanctions affecting capital markets activities since 2014 has created a patchwork of compliance obligations that often do not reflect how modern securities markets function and, in some cases, have resulted in unintended harms to U.S. investors. Among other recommendations, the paper calls for, among other things, a standardized capital markets sanctions framework and greater flexibility for investors to divest sanctioned securities and engage in ordinary investment lifecycle activities. The white paper is now available on SIFMA’s website, and I encourage you to take a look.

SIFMA also continues to support implementation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, engaging with the Treasury Department, FinCEN, the SEC, and FINRA to ensure the Act is implemented in a manner consistent with its objective of modernizing the AML framework. In fact, SIFMA submitted its letter on FinCEN’s whistleblower program letter on Monday and we’re close to finalizing our letter on the program rule, which is due on Tuesday. We have also remained closely engaged on FinCEN’s Investment Adviser AML program rule, encouraging FinCEN to revise it to be better tailored.

Emerging risks and technologies have also been a key focus, and SIFMA has been doing a lot of work in the digital assets space. As firms continue to expand into new products and services and introduce new technologies, AML and financial crimes programs must adapt. New tools and technologies are already transforming how firms approach surveillance, monitoring, investigations, and fraud prevention. While these innovations present significant opportunities to strengthen compliance capabilities and improve efficiency, they do not replace the expertise and judgment of the professionals in this room. Rather, they should help all of us better detect, prevent, and respond to illicit finance activity.

Equally important is continued collaboration and information sharing. Through our committees, working groups, roundtables, and ongoing engagement efforts, SIFMA continues to foster collaboration and support our members as they navigate an increasingly complex financial crimes landscape.

This year’s program reflects many of the most pressing AML and financial crimes issues facing our industry as identified by the members of our conference planning task force. Over the next two days, we will hear from regulators, policymakers, law enforcement officials, and industry practitioners on AML and law enforcement priorities, the Administration and regulators’ AML policy reforms and priorities, innovations in financial crime compliance and prevention, sanctions compliance, and the continued rise of transnational scams, crypto-related risks, and digital fraud schemes.

We are fortunate to have an outstanding group of keynote speakers joining us this year. Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, will join us today for a discussion on securities-related AML and financial crimes enforcement priorities in a fireside chat with SIFMA President and CEO Ken Bentsen. Tomorrow, we will hear from Gene Lange, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) at the Treasury Department, who will discuss the Administration’s priorities related to Bank Secrecy Act reform and anti-fraud efforts. He will then participate in a fireside chat moderated by SIFMA Executive Vice President and General Counsel Saima Ahmed.

To close, Erin West, Founder of Operation Shamrock, will discuss the global scam epidemic and share insights from her recent work investigating scam centers in Cambodia. And we have several engaging panel discussions and workshops prepared to dive further into these critical issues.

Now for a few well-deserved thank-yous. I would like to acknowledge the vital role our sponsors play in making this conference possible, thank you. And thank you as well to our Strategic Partners. Additionally, I would like to recognize and thank Kharon for sponsoring this morning’s seat drop.

I would also like to thank our speakers, the Conference Planning Task Force, and SIFMA’s AML and Financial Crimes Committee for their contributions to this year’s program. Many of the members involved in these efforts dedicate substantial time throughout the year to committee meetings, workstreams, engagement with regulators, and broader advocacy initiatives. I am grateful for their continued engagement. It is also great to see new voices and rising professionals continue to join and contribute to this community.

But above all, thank you to all of you for being here today, whether you are a long-standing supporter of this conference or joining us for the first time. I encourage you to explore the sponsor pavilion during breaks, which is always a great opportunity to connect with peers, discover new solutions, and continue important conversations outside of the formal sessions.

This conference is designed with a clear purpose: to provide your organizations with actionable intelligence and practical strategies. Whether the focus is understanding how emerging technologies can work for you, what the current regulatory expectations are, or trying to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated financial crime typologies, I hope the insights you gain here will be valuable in supporting your organizations and strengthening your programs.

Thank you all again for being here, and I look forward to a productive and engaging conference.

It is now my pleasure to introduce our first keynote speaker, Jay Clayton. Jay serves as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he oversees one of the nation’s leading federal prosecutorial offices. Under his leadership, SDNY has prioritized tackling gun violence, gang activity, drug trafficking operations, hate crimes, sex trafficking, child exploitation, national security threats, cyberattacks, securities and corporate fraud, and money laundering. Prior to this role, Jay served as Chairman of the SEC and previously spent many years in private practice as a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, where he advised public companies, financial institutions, boards of directors, and investment firms on complex transactions, corporate governance, and regulatory matters. He graduated from King’s College, Cambridge with a degree in economics and earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Joining Jay on stage is SIFMA President and CEO Ken Bentsen. Please join me in welcoming them both to the stage.