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Between Confidentiality Rules and Litigants, Financial Institutions Risk SAR Violations
By Colby Adams
printIt's a message that has been hammered home repeatedly by the U.S. Treasury Department: the confidentiality of data included in suspicious activity reports is sacrosanct. But the privacy rules involving the anti-money laundering (AML) reports, known as SARs, can pose practical challenges and uncomfortable dilemmas for financial institutions caught up in related lawsuits. At times, banks and other institutions can disclose SAR data accidentally. In other instances, they may weigh whether to violate the rules intentionally, say banking attorneys. Earlier this month, the department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reiterated the privacy restrictions, noting that an increase in private litigation-related...
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