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Banking Groups Ask Supreme Court to Ensure Legal Protections for SAR Filers

By Colby Adams

Six financial lobbying groups are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to shield banks from lawsuits targeting them for reporting suspicions about their clients that turn out to be false. In a petition for certiorari filed Oct. 22, the American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, The Clearing House and state associations in Louisiana, Mississippi and New York asked the justices to resolve conflicting lower court decisions on whether banks are immune from prosecutions for the suspicious activity reports (SARs) they file. While the First Circuit and Second Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled that financial institutions have "absolute immunity"...

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