Patterson continued:

Our investigative findings have confirmed these suspicions. Indeed, many statutory and regulatory reforms must be imposed if this industry is to continue its vital function of providing cash for people who for one reason or another can't or won't use regular banking services. The purpose of these hearings as with all of the SCI's public actions is to gener­ate public interest in promoting changes that will restore the industry's integrity by compell­ing it to obey a much more stringent regu­latory system.

We will hear from State banking officials on the regulatory problems which are numerous and complex and how the process can be improved. We also will hear from victims of unscrupulous check cashers whose miscon­duct and greed have led to excessive and unlawful fees and to embezzlement and bankruptcies, and, finally, we will hear from certain check cashers whose enterprises have been infiltrated by organized crime fig­ures to launder dirty money, to finance loansharking and to evade income taxation.

One of the mandates of the SCI's enabling statute is that we expose wrongdoing in such a manner as to generate public and gov­ernmental interest in expeditious efforts to curtail the particular misconduct involved. That is what we hope these three days of public hearings will [accomplish] for the check cashing industry and for the public that relies on check cashing services – compel immediate corrective action by the legislature and the administration.