Yesterday, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) released a final rule (“Final Rule”) to amend the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) regulations regarding the confidentiality of suspicious activity reports (“SARs”) and to expand the ability of certain financial institutions to share SAR information with most affiliates. The Final Rule: (i) clarifies the scope of the statutory prohibition against the disclosure by a financial institution of a SAR; (ii) addresses the statutory prohibition against the disclosure by the government of a SAR; (iii) clarifies that the exclusive standard applicable to the disclosure of a SAR by the government is to fulfill official duties consistent with the purposes of the BSA; (iv) modifies the safe harbor provision to include changes made by the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing the Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT ACT); and (v) makes minor technical revisions for consistency and harmonization among the different SAR rules.
In addition to the Final Rule, FinCEN released: (i) an advisory (“Advisory”) to reinforce and reiterate the requirement to preserve the confidentiality of SAR information; (ii) two guidance documents (“Guidance Documents”), one for depository institutions and another for the securities and futures industries that interpret the Final Rule’s provision on sharing of SARs with certain affiliates and (iii) a Notice of Availability of Final Interpretative Guidance (“Notice”) to announce the issuance of the Guidance Documents.
Please download the PDF below to continue reading this article.
