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US Officials See Continuing Need for More Tech Data in SARs
By Valentina Pasquali
printBank compliance departments continue to underreport Internet Protocol and e-mail addresses in their regulatory filings to the U.S. Treasury Department despite repeated requests for such disclosures from federal officials. Under guidance issued by the department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in March 2012, anti-money laundering (AML) compliance officers are expected to include the data, along with timestamps and Internet addresses, as part of their suspicious activity reports (SARs) of potential illicit activity, including cyberattacks. The bureau, which warned in December 2014 of a rise in cybercrime targeting financial institutions, found that fewer than two percent of SARs filed by AML...
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The U.S. Treasury Department's plan to collect more details about cyberattacks on financial institutions in suspicious activity reports may impose new monitoring requirements on compliance professionals, say sources.
The world's largest banks are increasingly devoting resources to guarding their infrastructure against large-scale cyberattacks, and installing new controls to prevent hackers from generating fraudulent payment messages to steal from them.
A U.S. Treasury Department advisory instructing financial institutions to more frequently and thoroughly investigate, report and exchange data on cyberattacks against them could inform a new category of regulatory penalties, say sources.
Anti-money laundering, fraud prevention and cybersecurity personnel should more frequently collaborate to guard their institutions and their customers against online intrusions by criminals and state-sponsored groups, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Technology-based financial service providers are struggling to obtain accounts at global banks which, despite investing millions of dollars to develop the industry, remain skeptical of their ability to manage its risks, say analysts.
In an attempt to expand their customer base and cut costs at a time of declining revenues, U.S. depository institutions are jumping into partnerships with online lenders that could draw regulatory scrutiny.
Banks have various levels of satisfaction with their transaction monitoring systems and rely on employee referrals for the best indications of suspicious activity, according to a U.S. Treasury Department report.
The current design of federally-mandated suspicious activity reports makes it difficult for banks to report important information tied to suspected mortgage fraud, say former law enforcement agents and consultants.
Less than two percent of the individuals and companies suspected by banks of mortgage fraud are identified by other financial institutions for separate crimes, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Lawmakers are likely to scrutinize the frequency of suspicious activity reporting by financial institutions that have reduced their anti-money laundering staff, a former Congressional counsel said Wednesday.
New York HIFCA director discusses the importance of well written SARs and the organization's efforts to bridge the communication gap between the financial sector and law enforcement.
As lawmakers and banking compliance professionals turn their attention to the burgeoning credit crisis, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has issued a dozen Bank Secrecy Act-related enforcement actions, serving to warn institutions not to skimp on their anti-money laundering efforts.
The quality of suspicious activity reports targeting terrorism is improving as the volume decreases, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said.