O.K. Here's the situation. A sole proprietor issues checks to people working for/with him. They bring those checks to the bank and cash them on the same day, but at different times. The sole propreitor never comes into the bank that day. The checks total more than $10,000 in cash. Here's the question:

Part I, Section A will be filled out with the customer's information, "doing business as". But, do we mark the "multiple transactions" boxes 1c and (d) under Section B? Also, since the sole proprietor wasn't in the bank, do we still need driver's license info. (14a) and (14e)?????
We're just not sure how to handle this one. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Vicki

No, unless 1 person got over $10,000, no CTR is needed (unless you have reason to believe that they are all cashing the checks and taking the cash back to the proprietor).

Who are the checks made out to? The people working for/with him? I agree that a CTR is not required. You may want to file a SAR, however.

Thanks Al. I appreciate the advice.

Also, congratulations on being named the California Banking Association's Compliance Professional of the Year!!!!

David - Yes, the checks are made out to the people that are working for/with him. This has happened once before. Do you think that 2 instances of this happening warrants a SAR?

It certainly appears odd. Look at it in this light:
The transaction or its details appear to have no business purpose, the transaction varies from the normal methods of financial commerce, or the transaction is not the sort in which the particular customer or class of customer would normally be expected to engage, and, in each case, the institution knows of no reasonable explanation for the transaction.

Does this appear to have a business purpose? Does it appear to be commensurate with the type of business? Do you have a reasonable explanation? If no, think about a SAR.

Maybe I've got my rose colored glasses on this afternoon, but where is there anything suspicious in this group of transactions?

This appears to be a payroll. It's not at all uncommon for employees to flock to cash their checks on payday, and their arrival might well be staggered because of a need to keep the business open.

If it's NOT a payroll and you have reason to believe the business owner is up to no good, then consider an SAR. After all, you know the customer best.

Maybe I should be wearing rose colored glasses, but I assumed that Vicki would have thought of that or knows the customer well enough to know that this is not payroll.

Can you give us more info Vicki?

I'll throw in two more cents, then. If it's not payroll, and if you know that the transactions are actually on behalf of the owner (not a likely scenario, I admit), then you would put the owner's information in Section A (on whose behalf . . .). And if you have ID info on any of the payees, you can include that in one or more Section A entries, but check box B(d) if you don't have complete ID info on all of the payees.

In this case, you would check 1(c) because it's more than one transaction. And if you have multiple Section B entries, check box 1(b), too. Finally, if you don't have DL info on file for the owner, you can check box 14(d) and mark it "N/A" because he wasn't there.

O.K. This is what I know. These transactions occurred at one of our brach offices. I am at the main office and get a dailiy report of cash transactions over $3,000 by tax ID#. There were two checks cashed (by two different people) on this sole proprietor's checking account. He was never in the bank that day. We don't have DL information on him. After talking this through with all of you, it doesn't appear to me that we need to file a CTR. But, I will look into the situation in more detail. We're in the middle of a huge growth spurt, and keeping on top on BSA activity is getting more difficult.

Thanks again for your help!
Vicki

Good luck, Vicki! And please say "Hello!" to Madison for me. It's one of my favorite state capitals. I have good memories of two summers at UW, even with the waterspouts on Lake Monona!

Thanks John. And I will "say hello" to Madison for you. It's a GREAT city. I spent some wonderful years at the UW myself.

Vicki- You indicated that BSA is becoming harder to handle as your bank enjoys strong growth. As I read the reports, that was the situation at Sovreign Bank, and the bottom line was a $700,000 fine. Your management needs to take all necessary steps to manage and fund your BSA compliance efforts. If more staff time or new software is needed, don't pinch pennies and expose the bank to devastating penalties and reputational damage.