Harwood Salon Luncheon: A Half Century of the Bank Secrecy Act

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From Harwood Salon:

Join us in Nashville for a luncheon with Jarett Decker, Joey Jacobs Chair of Excellence in Accounting and Professor of Practice at MTSU. 

Since the passage of the first anti-money laundering law in 1970, the Bank Secrecy Act, the United States has steadily expanded financial surveillance. Banks and an ever-growing range of private industries now face severe penalties if they fail to monitor and report customer activity to law enforcement. In 1989, the United States and its G7 partners exported this model globally, creating a system that today reaches more than 200 countries and jurisdictions.

Despite its enormous scope, the global anti–money laundering regime remains strikingly ineffective. Credible estimates suggest it intercepts less than one percent of illicit financial flows. What it does far more effectively is erode financial privacy, increase costs on ordinary people, and strengthen surveillance tools that can be readily adopted by authoritarian governments abroad.

In this conversation, Jarett Decker, Jacobs Chair of Excellence in Accounting and Professor of Practice at Middle Tennessee State University, will examine how anti-money laundering regulations operate in practice and why their real-world effects often diverge from their stated goals. Drawing on his background in U.S. and global financial regulation and criminal law, Decker will explore how these regulatory structures impact individual freedom, economic opportunity, and the rule of law. He will also discuss recent developments suggesting the possibility for change.

This discussion supports AIER’s mission by highlighting how financial surveillance affects everyday life and economic vitality. Understanding the unintended consequences of expansive regulation helps clarify where reforms are needed to protect privacy, promote a more open economy, and preserve the conditions that allow individuals and businesses to flourish.

Harwood Salons – Nashville is made possible through the generosity of supporters like you. We encourage you to become a member or make a donation to support the American Institute for Economic Research and ensure the continuation of these important events. All donations are tax-deductible and directly contribute to sustaining Harwood Salons – Nashville.

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Agenda 

• 11:30 AM – 11:40 AM – Arrivals and Seating
• 11:45 AM – 12:00 PM – Meal service begins
• 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Presentation & Q&A
• 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM – Departures

About the Speaker

Jarett Decker (Jerry) is the Joey Jacobs Chair of Excellence in Accounting and Professor of Practice at Middle Tennessee State University.  A lawyer and CPA, he is the former Head of the World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform in Vienna, Austria, where he advised governments in developing and former communist countries on financial regulation, mostly in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Before the World Bank, Decker was the first person to serve as Chief Trial Counsel for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board –the accounting watchdog created in response to Enron–where he established the program of disciplinary litigation against Big Four and other auditors.  He has also served as Senior Trial Counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is currently developing a program in international anti-money laundering for the Master of Accounting program at MTSU and taught the first course last fall.  He has published articles in Reason magazine, the New York Times, The National Interest, and the American Institute for Economic Research’s website.  Decker began his career as a criminal trial lawyer defending the constitutional rights of the accused, including in money laundering cases.

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