314(a) Search Request Questions
by Mary Beth Guard, BOL Guru
Questions: I have questions regarding the 314(a) search requests:
Should you maintain copies of the lists?
If you have a match and the accounts are closed, should you continue
to monitor for activity for the entity?
Answer: Some speakers (including one from the Federal Reserve) have suggested
that the lists should not be kept. There has been nothing to that
effect issued by FinCEN, however, so the general consensus appears to be
that unless and until some regulatory agency, or preferably FinCEN,
indicates in writing that the search requests are not to be kept, you
should be keeping them.
On the other hand, since the information on the lists is extremely
confidential, it is essential for it to be restricted in-house to
dissemination on a need-to-know basis. It should be stored in a secure
manner where it cannot be accessed or viewed by parties that do not have
a need for the information.
If you have a match with a name on the list, you report it. If, at the
time of the report, or subsequently, the account is closed, it doesn't
matter because the reporting requirement really represents a snapshot in
time. It does not require you to do ongoing monitoring; it simply
requires you to determine whether there are any accounts, closed or
open, or any transactions, during the pertinent time periods, which
involve a named individual, entity, or organization.
The original version appeared in the July/August 2003 edition of the Oklahoma Bankers Association Compliance Informer.
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