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FinCEN, Agencies, Issue Joint Statement on Suspicious Activity Report Confidentiality Considerations Regarding Communications with Customers

Immediate Release

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), together with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the Agencies), issued a joint statement to clarify that confidentiality requirements related to Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) do not preclude banks from communicating with their customers regarding potentially fraudulent transactions and other suspicious activity or account closures.

This statement does not alter existing Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) legal or regulatory requirements or establish new supervisory expectations.

The joint statement clarifies how banks can ensure compliance with SAR confidentiality requirements and provide customers with transparent and timely communication as part of the bank’s fraud investigation.

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