Can anyone recommend a source to be able to compare like businesses for "normal cash activity"?

I know if I have identical companies like a pizza parlor and adjust for location and/or foot traffic I can come up with a reasonable expectation and comfort level of whether to file a SAR.

But when I have only one company "Bada Bing" - where can I get info as to whether incoming cash levels are "reasonable" for the business?.

Thank you

Do you have regular contact with other BSA officers in your area? If so, find out if any of them have similar businesses in their banks and what constitutes normal transaction types and volume.

The Bada Bings are going to be cash intensive.
You have to judge the volumes based on how popular they are, - their location - how many ATMs they have on site - and their overall services.
Do they serve meals or snacks only?
Do they bring in high end entertainment?
How upscale are they?
What are their hours?
And most important, how much confidence do you have in the owners?

Thank you JacFSB and Magic City.

You gave me food for thought and sage advice. I guess I'll need to find an employee to volunteer for a site visit (or one who will admit to patronizing the establishment)

On a bigger picture - I wonder if there is any statiscal data anywhere that gives expected cash levels for cash intensive businesses for the exchange of goods and services - such as a one-man landscaping business, bodegas etc.

Thank you again

We have a Bada Bing and don't worry, our male employees happily volunteer for the site visit!!

You might go for a willing female (pay her WELL) for the site visit. She might actually notice the salient facts...

Being in Las Vegas you can't help but trip over these places - bars, nightclubs, adult bookstores, etc. We're a cash intensive city, period. The higher end places tend to use credit cards (watch for electronic payments), whereas the lower end places tend to only accept cash. We monitor all of the "adult entertainment" accounts on a monthly basis.

Thank you BSA State of Mind.

For a cash only establishment --Can you give me a clue or dollar range as to what your'e experience is for "normal" weekly/monthly cash deposits and cash exchange levels are? This is a relatively new business and new account so I have no real history as to what is normal. They have well exceeded their initial profile and are very "successful."

A comment from a non-current-banker --

It's unlikely that you'll get a "one-size-fits-all" range of dollar activity to help you set the monitoring parameters for your bank, joser. That's because there are clubs of all sizes in towns of all sizes, with business activity of all sizes. In other words, and to abuse the phrase, "Size does matter."

I'm not a big fan of "drive-by" assessments, but I think that some sort of check of club "action" might help. For example, if you drive by such an establishment a few times during what should be peak hours and see only a few vehicles in the lot, but cash activity is heavy, you might wonder how so little apparent activity could generate such high cash levels.

Just a thought.

As John said, one size does not fit all. In Las Vegas what we would consider "normal" cash activity might be huge volume in another city (after all we do get all the convention people and vacationers). A drive-by is a great idea to judge what the customer flow is and whether cash flow is appropriate given volume of customers.