FinCEN Director Tells Financial Institutions That BSA Burden Yields Results

For years, financial institutions have complained about the paperwork and cost of BSA/AML compliance -- and most are of the opinion that thousands of CTRs and SARs are sent into the enforcement void every day.  For the past several years, FinCEN and the federal financial institution regulators have been engaged in a PR campaign to convince banks that all this BSA burden is worth the pain because it does produce results in terms of catching the real bad guys (money launderers, tax evasionists, drug lords, terrorists, etc.) and not just financial institutions whose tellers can't fill out a CTR form properly.

Relatively new FinCEN Director James Freis, Jr., continues the effort to demonstrate the value of BSA reporting.  In a speech to the ABA Money Laundering Conference on Oct. 22, 2007, Director Freis summarized the following uses for BSA-relating filings:  1.  Initial tip off to begin investigation; 2.  Additional information, especially in identifying wrongdoers, for an existing investigation; 3.  Trend analysis to indicate new money laundering or terrorist financing schemes; and 4.  Deterrence.

Link to speech:  http://www.fincen.gov/aba_102207.html

(ag) Oct. 23, 2007, in BSA/AML