In ABA’s Risk News yesterday under "Making Permitted SAR Disclosures", they listed the following as part of the process for disclosure of SAR information to appropriate agencies:
Notify your bank regulatory agency and FinCEN, if they are not the requestors.
The FFIEC BSA Exam Manual states:
“Thus, any person subpoenaed or otherwise requested to disclose a SAR or the information contained in a SAR, except when such disclosure is requested by FinCEN or an appropriate law enforcement or federal banking agency, shall decline to produce the SAR or to provide any information that would disclose that a SAR has been prepared or filed, citing 31 CFR 103.18(e) and 31 USC 5318(g)(2). FinCEN and the bank’s federal banking agency should be notified of any such request and of the bank’s response.”
I interpreted what is in the FFIEC manual to mean you must notify FinCEN and your regulator if someone who is not authorized makes the request.
Please clarify: Must the bank notify FinCEN and the bank's regulator if the requester is an appropriate law enforcement agency?
If so, must the notification be made before the supporting documentation is released?
How do you notify them (by phone, email, letter)?
Also, if the agent asks questions about what is in your narrative, can you discuss it with them on the phone or can you only provide copies of supporting documents?
Thanks in advance – I received a phone call yesterday from an appropriate agency and need to know how to proceed.
Last edited by PeeWee; 01/06/09 04:14 AM.