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VIENNA, Va. - The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued today the latest edition of The SAR Activity Review - By The Numbers. This report compiles the numerical data gathered from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed through the 2007 calendar year. While this report does not analyze specific trends, changes in the reporting of some suspicious activities are of note and will be of interest to financial institutions, regulatory and law enforcement agencies.
This is the second issue to present a number of visual enhancements aimed at providing the FinCEN customer community with more information on the geographical dispersion of SAR filings. The enhancements, previously limited to depository institutions, now include data on casino SAR filings for those states with casino and card club operations. Enhanced SAR data for individual states and territories include charts, maps and graphs highlighting SAR filing trends and patterns between April 1, 1996, and December 31, 2007. The state-by-state enhanced graphical presentations for depository institutions can be found here and enhanced casino SAR information can be found here.
In conjunction with the enhancements in this edition of The SAR Activity Review, FinCEN will leverage this information to provide specific Bank Secrecy Act Data Profiles to the 45 state supervisory agencies with which it has information sharing agreements. FinCEN remains committed to providing valuable analytic products to regulatory partners that rely on Bank Secrecy Act information in the exercise of their safety and soundness supervision as well as to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities to criminal abuse. FinCEN expects to release the Bank Secrecy Act Data Profiles to the state regulatory authorities by late June.
In addition to use by FinCEN analysts, SARs are made available to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and regulators. Law enforcement agencies use SARs to support existing investigations of fraud and money laundering and also to initiate new investigations. There are over 80 SAR review teams located across the United States that consist of experts trained to conduct complex criminal financial investigations.
FinCEN issues The SAR Activity Review - By the Numbers
twice a year, as a companion piece to The SAR Activity Review - Trends, Tips & Issues.