Farley Mesko

Treasury's War on Terror: What It Means for Banking and Global Commerce

Staci Warden, Timothy Adams, Christine Duhaime, John Dye, Matthew Epstein, Farley Mesko

At the 2016 Milken Institute Global Conference, panelists analyzed how the U.S. Treasury's aggressive post-9/11 sanctions strategy inadvertently triggered widespread financial de-risking and excluded unbanked populations. Experts highlighted the inefficiency of current anti-money laundering regimes, noting that banks spend vast resources on broad compliance rather than targeting the estimated 0.1% of illicit flows actually detected. The discussion concluded by proposing a shift toward technology-driven intelligence, collaborative law enforcement models, and unified regulatory guidance to restore financial inclusion while surgically targeting known bad actors.