USA’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has approved a rule amending its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) regulation. The proposed regulation would allow the FDIC to exempt FDIC-supervised institutions from certain SAR filing requirements on a case-to-case basis.
Currently, FDIC’s exemptions to SAR regulation apply only to physical crimes (robberies, burglaries) and lost, missing, counterfeit or stolen securities. However, the regulation now approved by the FDIC will allow it to grant exemptions to institutions under its purview which come up with innovative solutions to meet Bank Secrecy Act requirements in a more efficient manner.
The FDIC expects that this amendment to the SAR regulation will reduce regulatory burden on financial institutions. At the same time, the FDIC expects it to encourage technological innovation in the banking sector.