How often is a BSA audit required to be done? I can't locate it in the reg anywhere.

Each regulatory agency has their own interpretation. Here is the FDIC's:
§326.8 Bank Secrecy Act compliance.
(c) Contents of compliance program. The compliance program shall, at a minimum:

(1) Provide for a system of internal controls to assure ongoing compliance;

(2) Provide for independent testing for compliance to be conducted by bank personnel or by an outside party;

(3) Designate an individual or individuals responsible for coordinating and monitoring day-to-day compliance; and

(4) Provide training for appropriate personnel.

Notice that their is no time frame mentioned.

Thanks, That is what I thought also. We had the OCC here last week and they commented that too much time had gone by since we last did a BSA audit.

Once a year works well with that frequency noted in the BSA policy.

It is common to hear of annual audits and training but as I pointed out, this is not required. We provide audits and training for numerous banks. Often this is setup on an 18 month or even 24 month basis.

We are OCC also. I would recommend a full BSA audit be conducted annually. But CTRs, "high" risk accounts, KYC procedures, wire transfers, & a few others should be monitored quarterly on a small scale. Training should be conducted annually which includes money laundering, anti-money laundering, OFAC, Identity Theft, "suspicious" activity, and internal policies. also a method should be implemented to train "new" employees until the annual training is conducted.

I am "hard" on this reg. I take it too seriously. I hope this helps.

Opinions are mine not my employer.

Currently, I do a full BSA audit annually. Each BSA officer is required to monitor quarterly and submit a written report of the areas they reviewed (1) CTRs (2) TIN's (3) Recordkeeping on wire transfers and cash sale of monetary instruments (4) transfers between branches (5) procedures for tracking multiple transactions.

I review my CTR's, SAR's and MIL quarterly, but complete a
overall BSA review that incompasses all aspects of BSA i.e. USA Patriot, AML, CIP, and BSA.