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SARs and National Security Letters

Answered by: 

Question: 
If we receive a national security letter, do we have a SAR?
Answer: 

It depends on what your research shows. But National Security Letters are highly confidential even your regulators cannot look at these. The exam manual tells us:

NSLs are written investigative demands that may be issued by the local Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal governmental authorities in counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations to obtain the following:

· Telephone and electronic communications records from telephone companies and Internet service providers.

· Information from credit bureaus.

· Financial records from financial institutions.

NSLs are highly confidential documents; for that reason, examiners do not review or sample specific NSLs. Pursuant to 12 USC 3414(a)(3) and (5)(D), no bank, or officer, employee or agent of the institution, can disclose to any person that a government authority or the FBI has sought or obtained access to records through a Right to Financial Privacy Act NSL. Banks that receive NSLs must take appropriate measures to ensure the confidentiality of the letters and should have procedures in place for processing and maintaining the confidentiality of NSLs. If a bank files a SAR after receiving a NSL, the SAR should not contain any reference to the receipt or existence of the NSL. The SAR should reference only those facts and activities that support a finding of unusual or suspicious transactions identified by the bank.

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Learn more about Deborah Crawford’s

SAR Decision Making and Filing webinar.

First published on 01/24/2021

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