20th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Illicit finance, financial integrity software solutions, biological warfare

To start his portion of the discussion, Mr. Timm explains how his main job with Bank of America (and what can greatly help public institutions) is to “follow the money.” Mr. Timm first states that $2 Trillion serve as proceeds to criminal activity each year, and if one counts money laundering, tax evasion, and other forms of financial-based crime not accounted for, the number jumps to $8.5T, which is around 8 to 9% of global GDP. Mr. Timm states that the financial sector spends around 180 billion annually on such measures, so why are there no solutions?

Mr. Timm then jumps into the fact that the financial sectors and others need to define exactly what they want to achieve. He cites that Bank of America spreads its counter- criminal finance wings too thin, resulting in little gains in any sector. Also, many of the world’s top financial institutions operate in completely different silos than financial criminals. Understanding criminal methods and where they operate is crucial to preventing illicit finance. Mr. Timm then proposed three different solutions. First, Mr. Timm notes that the USA and its Allies need to develop national priorities, that way both the private and public sectors can allocate most of their funds to only a few different places where an impact will be made. Next, Mr. Timm proposes information sharing. Through different countries and institutions sharing all in which they have learned, they can make faster progress. The private sector is just as important as the public sector. Lastly, with all of the cutting-edge technology in the hands of Americans and Europe, the US and its Allies can use it to make a difference.