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Lawmakers are likely to scrutinize the frequency of suspicious activity reporting by financial institutions that have reduced their anti-money laundering staff, a former Congressional counsel said Wednesday.
Depository institutions are on track to file a record number of suspicious activity reports this year, according to data from the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, but the rate of filings may be leveling off as the year comes to a close.
FinCEN, which drew its conclusions from a review of filings mostly from money service businesses, said other common errors included missing or inaccurate identifications, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and other data.
A financial institution should ask for a written request from any law enforcement agency that asks it to keep an account open, according to the U.S. Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Insurers were on pace to file 280 for the year ended this month, according to a FinCEN study issued last week. That compares with 5,723 SARs submitted by money services businesses in 2002, and 4,267 by securities and futures dealers in 2003, the first years those industries had to file the reports.
The Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has revised its suspicious activity reporting form with the aim of reducing duplicate filings for individual suspicious transactions.
The quality of suspicious activity reports targeting terrorism is improving as the volume decreases, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said.
