This issue examines only data contained in the 1,369,529 unique FinCEN SARs (Form 111) with filing dates between March 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013, inclusive. The adoption of the new unified SAR form and the implementation of e-Filing enable the financial industry to report suspicious activity more swiftly and with more specificity. The changes also mean the data presented in this issue are a new baseline for financial sector reporting on suspicious activity. Direct comparisons with reporting numbers in prior years (year on year numbers) will not be presented in this inaugural issue of SAR Stats. The overall 1,369,529 SARs analyzed for this report are organized and presented by industry. Illustrated below is the total volume of filings since CY2010.
BSA data – particularly SARs – continue to play an integral role in law enforcement investigations and financial regulatory compliance at both the federal and state levels. In the first six months of 2014 alone, over 350 unique agencies representing a broad cross section of federal, state, and local law enforcement, regulators, self-regulated organizations, and state attorney offices operating nationwide accessed Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data via FinCEN’s portal. Thousands of agents, analysts, and investigative personnel from each of these entities have conducted in excess of 1 million queries against the database during that period. In addition, approximately 94 Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) review teams across the country bring together investigators and prosecutors from different agencies to regularly review reports related to their geographic area of responsibility. In the second quarter of 2014 alone, these teams reviewed a total of over 180,000 SARs.