FinCEN Introduces the PATRIOT Act Communication System

Pursuant to Section 362 of the USA PATRIOT Act, FinCEN was tasked with developing a highly secure network to allow financial institutions to electronically file certain BSA forms. FinCEN met this goal by making the PATRIOT Act Communication System (PACS) available to the financial community on October 1, 2002. Initially, only the forms filed by depository institutions, the Currency Transaction Report (Form 4789 or CTR) and the Suspicious Activity Report (Form TD F 90-22.47 or SAR) will be accepted through the electronic filing process.

Financial institutions are not mandated to use PACS, but the system does provide a third, cost effective option for filing CTRs and SARs. PACS allows participating financial institutions to electronically file CTRs and SARs in a highly secure fashion via the Internet, including both single forms and electronic batches of forms. PACS enhances the security of the BSA form filing process through the use of digital signatures and secure Internet connectivity. PACS accelerates the delivery of BSA information to federal and state law enforcement and it reduces the expense to the financial institution by eliminating the need for magnetic tapes and paper forms.

An institution incurs no cost to sign up or use PACS. However, financial institution personnel may access PACS only after they have applied for and received a digital certificate.

Visit the PACS website at http://www.pacs.treas.gov to find out more information about how PACS operates and how to become a PACS user.

Excerpted from SAR Activity Review Issue , page 65