Federal regulations in the United States REQUIRE banks to file ‘suspicious activity reports’ or SARs on their customers. And it’s not optional. Banks have minimum quotas of SARs they need to fill out and submit to the federal government and, if they don’t file enough SARs, they can be fined. They can lose their banking charter. And bank executives and directors can even be imprisoned for noncompliance.
They submitted 1.6 MILLION SARs in 2013 alone. But now the Justice Department wants to expand this monitoring activity.
Now, whenever banks suspect something ‘suspicious’ is going on, they want them to pick up the phone and call the police:
“[W]e encourage those institutions to consider whether to take more action: specifically, to alert law enforcement authorities about the problem, who may be able to seize the funds, initiate an investigation, or take other proactive steps.”
So what exactly constitutes ‘suspicious activity’? Basically anything.
According to the handbook for the Federal Financial Institution Examination Council, banks are required to file a SAR with respect to:
“Transactions conducted or attempted by, at, or through the bank (or an affiliate) and aggregating $5,000 or more…”
Just looking out for us.
They submitted 1.6 MILLION SARs in 2013 alone. But now the Justice Department wants to expand this monitoring activity.
Now, whenever banks suspect something ‘suspicious’ is going on, they want them to pick up the phone and call the police:
“[W]e encourage those institutions to consider whether to take more action: specifically, to alert law enforcement authorities about the problem, who may be able to seize the funds, initiate an investigation, or take other proactive steps.”
So what exactly constitutes ‘suspicious activity’? Basically anything.
According to the handbook for the Federal Financial Institution Examination Council, banks are required to file a SAR with respect to:
“Transactions conducted or attempted by, at, or through the bank (or an affiliate) and aggregating $5,000 or more…”
Just looking out for us.
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