We are using the 314a checklist posted on the tools page to document our searches. I noticed that the "old" form said to keep all copies, but the revised version says to destroy them and only keep the tracking numbers. What exactly is required?

See this thread. We have never officially been told to destroy these lists and now there is support to retain them as evidence of compliance, but not for future use.

My co-worker developed that 314a checklist. Then we both attended an Interagency Anti-Money Laundering seminar where a high ranking official made a very pointed (and repeated) statement that financial institutions should NOT keep copies of the list. The instructions given were for us to keep the TRACKING number, but not the actual list.

Yes - it is counter-intuitive for those of us with compliance/audit backgrounds, and there was a somewhat heated discussion about this. I was told later that these instructions were emphatically given out by FinCEN. They have since backtracked somewhat on their emphasis, so now we are left in a hazy gray limbo on what exactly we are supposed to do.

One word of caution, if you do keep the lists with your evidence of searching, make sure you keep them in a securely locked cabinet that only a few authorized staff members can access.

Bonnie,
I am absolutely certain that you recounted the speaker's remarks accurately. I am no less certain he was wrong; his comments were directly contrary to those made by a FinCEN representative at the ABA's MLES in Washington this week. I appended them to the thread Andy linked above.

This is from OTS's recently released examination procedures. It appears to indicate that it is appropriate to keep 314(a) request lists.

Review the financial institution’s internal control process to determine that there is
adequate documentation to evidence compliance. Such documentation could include, for
example, copies of the 314(a) requests; a log that records the tracking numbers with a signoff
column; or copies of the request cover page with a sign-off, indicating that the records
were checked, along with the date of the search and search results (e.g., positive/negative).
For positive matches, copies of the form returned to FinCEN along with supporting
documentation should be retained. Failure to maintain records could be indicative of weak
internal controls.

This is the same as the OCC's linked above. A similar comment was made here at the ABA school today by a DC FRB regulator.

So how long do you think we should keep such documentation? With the number of lists coming every 2 weeks this could amount to a lot of paper to keep forever. Does 5 years sound reasonable?

See this thread.