FinCEN issues a joint statement regarded Suspicious Activity Report Confidentiality Considerations

FinCEN, together with the Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, and OCC, issued a joint statement clarifying that SAR confidentiality requirements under the BSA do not bar banks and credit unions from communicating with customers about potentially fraudulent or suspicious activity (including check fraud) or account closures, so long as the communication does not reveal the existence of a SAR itself. The agencies confirmed that discussing the underlying facts, transactions, and documents on which a SAR is based such as transaction dates, amounts, parties, source-of-funds inquiries, fraud-typology warnings, or notice of account restrictions/closures remains permissible even if a customer could reasonably infer a SAR was filed.