BSA

Did you miss out on FinCEN’s webinar held on September 18^th?  The webinar discussed the new E-filing system, along with information with respect to filing the new SAR form. Well good news, the recorded version of the webinar and the presentation materials are now available for your viewing/reading pleasure.

To access the recorded Webinar version click here.

To access the presentation materials click here.

FinCEN asks that all questions, comments and feedback be sent to fincenwebinar@fincen.gov.

Do you have questions on the new CTR and SAR forms? You are not alone. Good news… FinCEN plans to hold an informal webinar (1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, September 18, 2012) to discuss the BSA e-filing process and the filing instructions for the new SAR form. Click here to register.

This webinar will discuss the following:

• Overview of the E-Filing Process for FinCEN’s new SAR.
• Overview of the Filing Instructions for FinCEN’s new SAR.
• FAQs about the completion of FinCEN’s new SAR.

FinCEN then plans to hold an additional webinar (1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October, 2, 2012) to discuss the BSA e-filing process and instructions for the new Currency Transaction Report (CTR) and Designation of Exempt Person (DOEP) report. Click here to register. 

This webinar will discuss the following:

• Overview of the E-Filing Process for FinCEN’s new CTR and DOEP.
• Overview of the Filing Instructions for FinCEN’s new CTR and DOEP.
• FAQs about the completion of FinCEN’s new CTR and DOEP.

FinCEN released an advisory last week to highlight suspicious activity with respect to mortgage loan fraud. The intention of the advisory is to provide financial institutions with information that may help them better assist law enforcement when filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) for potential mortgage loan fraud. 

Electronic filing of BSA reports was mandatory as of July 1, 2012. However, since this time, several financial institutions have been experiencing difficulty and delays when trying to file BSA reports electronically. This prompted FinCEN to post the following message:

Only 40 days and 40 nights remain until FinCEN will require credit unions to electronically file their CTRs and SARs (among other BSA forms). Hopefully you are already e-filing as a way to save time, money and increase efficiency. However, if you are still sending your BSA forms by mail, I have provided links to some helpful information while answering some common questions below: 

FinCEN recently released another advisory on SAR confidentiality that reminded financial institutions of the requirements to maintain the confidentiality of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs).  FinCEN stated that it has noticed that an increasing amount of private parties are seeking SARs from financial institutions for use in legal and other matters. FinCEN is reminding financial institutions that they are prohibited from revealing a SAR, or the existence of a SAR.

If you have not already registered to electronically file BSA reports, now would be the time to do so. FinCEN recently approved its final rule mandating the electronic filing of reports related to BSA. Here is the low down: