All in BSA

Exam Procedures for Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Rules

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

On May 11, 2018, the FFIEC released new examination procedures for the recent “Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions.”  These procedures are intended to be utilized by each regulatory agency - meaning they apply to all banks, savings and loans, savings associations, and credit unions - and will be a part of a financial institution’s BSA examination.  These new procedures replace the prior procedures and financial institutions should expect examiners to utilize them in the near future.

Reporting a SAR on a Director

Reporting a SAR on a Director

Adam Witmer
BSA

This BSA video discusses what a BSA Officer should do when they have filed a SAR on a Director and then are supposed to report the SAR to the Board - but the Board requires the names of SARs to be included in the Board report.  Plus, Adam gives a real life example of when this became an issue.

Beneficial Ownership Verification for Unincorporated Nonprofits

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

As the new CDD FAQs on the ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) rules were released last week, there have been quite a few questions relating to the rules that require compliance by May 11, 2018.  One of those questions relates to non-profit organizations that are not incorporated or registered with the secretary of state. This article will explore how to complete the UBO information for both incorporated nonprofits as well as nonprofits which are unincorporated associations.

How the New CDD/UBO FAQs Apply to Community Banks and Credit Unions

Adam Witmer
Regulatory Update, BSA

For several months now, there have been rumors about a new set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) from FinCEN regarding the new CDD/UBO rules which require compliance by May 11, 2018.  Well, the mysterious FAQs are finally here.  Earlier today, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a set of updated FAQs regarding the new BSA rules that will be effective on May 11, 2018.  These FAQs relate to the new customer due diligence requirements for ultimate beneficial owners on accounts for legal entity customers. 

Continuing SAR Narrative: Referencing Prior SARs

Adam Witmer
BSA

One of the biggest challenges when writing the narrative for a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) is to be able to balance writing in a way that someone reading the SAR can determine if additional action needs to take place and writing in a way that provides too many details.  This is especially true for a continuing SAR where the activity on the current SAR is consistent with activity that was included in prior SAR filings.  The concern is whether information that was included on a prior SAR should again be included in the narrative, or whether this information is considered redundant.  Fortunately for BSA Officers, FinCEN has provided some guidance as to what should be included in the narrative of a continuing SAR filing.

FinCEN Updates SAR Form

Adam Witmer
BSA, Regulatory Update

FinCEN recently announced that they will be revising the Suspicious Activity Report.  The new version of the SAR will be available in June of 2018 and will include several changes.  FinCEN is currently in the process of developing and testing the updated SAR and has released some mock-ups of the proposed SAR, though they say that the final SAR may be slightly different.  This is the first round of updates to the SAR form since releasing the new electronic version of the form a few years back.  While we saw changes to the...

SAR Filing Deadline

Adam Witmer
BSA

As a financial institution, SAR reporting is a critical function that can result in violations being cited in an exam report.  Because of this, it is extremely important to fully understand the reporting rules, of which there are quite a few.  One of those rules relates to the timeframe for SAR reporting - i.e., how long a financial institution has to file SAR.

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