SAR Reporters

FinCEN's 8th SAR Activity Review studied 2,175 SARs reported during that period. Of these, slightly under half, 1,014, related to terrorist activity and were filed by 177 depository institutions in the USA and the UK. Two banks filed 38% of the 1,014 SARs (385 SARs) on terrorism, leaving 629 to be filed by other institutions. The report does not indicate how many of the 385 SARs filed by the two institutions were repeat filings. Of these, 28% reported the use of wire transfers from both personal and business accountsMeanwhile, reporting from MSBs, casinos and the securities industry is picking up. These industries reported a total of 1,158 SARs reporting terrorism activity. Most of these came from MSBs (1,116) and 11 came from a single casino. The most common activity reported by MSBs was structuring and smurfing. MSBs also reported Internet sales or purchases of substances that can be used for making bombs or for producing illegal drugs.

Copyright © 2005 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 10, No. 7, 6/05