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Compliance officers should contact federal investigators more frequently and more directly when they come across glaring instances of suspicious financial activity, say U.S. officials. In addition to filing suspicious activity reports on certain unusual transactions, the U.S. Treasury Department instructs financial institutions to "immediately notify, by telephone" federal officials of known "violations requiring immediate attention," such as actual attempts by a customer to fund terrorism or launder criminal proceeds. Another category of transactions-those falling in between minor, reportable customer activity and known legal and regulatory violations-also warrants an "actual phone call as soon as a SAR is filed," Kendall Day,...