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#382636 - 07/07/05 08:36 PM Wall St. Journal Article on SAR Filings
Security Guy Offline
Gold Star
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 327
Upstate N.Y.
Take a look at today's WSJ...here we go again...on one hand, the Regulators are looking for banks to file SARs on suspicious activity...and FinCEN is saying that many of the SARs being filed are of little value. And we Bankers are stuck in the middle. Here is an example: a customer who had a fairly inactive account, with a low balance, withdraws $ 7,000 in cash one day, then comes back the next day and withdraws $ 6,000 in cash...is that a SAR? This is the type of transaction that falls into the grey area...we need some guidance on what is suspicious and what is not suspicious.

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#382637 - 07/07/05 08:54 PM Re: Wall St. Journal Article on SAR Filings
Hrothgar Geiger Offline
10K Club
Hrothgar Geiger
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 10,395
Jersey Shore
Whenever I've seen the comment 'many of the SAR's filed are of little value' it seems to me to be in the context of them being written poorly, or incomplete.

I'll have to read the WSJ article, though. Thanks for the tip.
Last edited by AML-Barbarian; 07/07/05 08:56 PM.
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#382638 - 07/07/05 10:30 PM Re: Wall St. Journal Article on SAR Filings
GreatBlue Offline
Diamond Poster
GreatBlue
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,362
Colorado
A couple of quotes:

"This has prompted executives to file more 'suspcious-activity reports' - the majority of which involve activity that isn't suspicious at all."

"This defensive filing by banks is clogging the database..."

This time they're definitely not talking about the quality of the narrative. Interestingly enough, the OCC at the ABA Compliance Conference pretty much said they had never seen a "defensive SAR".
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#382639 - 07/08/05 01:27 AM Re: Wall St. Journal Article on SAR Filings
Princess Romeo Offline

Power Poster
Princess Romeo
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 8,272
Where the heart is
My personal favorite from the conference is the example of the "Bacon SAR" filed for the employee who pilfered some bacon from the bank's commissary.

Of course, you DO have the zero threshold for insiders.....

Breakfast anyone?
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CRCM,CAMS
Regulations are a poor substitute for ethics.
Just sayin'

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