The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's latest edition of the SAR Activity Review — By The Numbers introduces a number of enhancements aimed at providing financial institutions with more information on the geographical dispersion of the suspicious activity report (SAR) filings. The enhancements unveiled in the issue include representations of the numerical depository institution SAR data for individual states; charts and graphs highlighting SAR filing trends and patterns between April 1, 1996 and December 31, 2006 for each state and territory; and maps for calendar year 2006.

In conjunction with the enhancements in this edition of the SAR Activity Review, FinCEN leveraged this information to provide Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data profiles to the 43 state supervisory agencies with which it has information sharing agreements. This initiative demonstrates FinCEN's continued commitment to provide valuable analytic products to important regulatory partners.

According to the latest report, the rate of increase of SAR filings by depository institutions and other long-time SAR filers slowed between 2005 and 2006 compared to previous years. The rate of increase between 2004 and 2005 was 37 percent, while the increase from 2005 to 2006 was only 9 percent.

By contrast, those components of the financial sector with less reporting experience, such as the securities and futures industries, showed, on average, higher rates of increased reporting. FinCEN attributed that to the industry's growing familiarity with BSA obligations. As of the end of 2006, depository institutions, money services businesses, casinos and card clubs, and the securities and futures industries have filed more than 4.2 million SARs.

FinCEN announced it is now providing BSA data profiles to the 43 state supervisory agencies with which it has information sharing agreements. "This initiative demonstrates FinCEN's continued commitment to provide valuable analytic products to important regulatory partners," the agency said.

Selected Data

Other data reported by the government in the latest SAR Activity Review included the following:

• BSA/Structuring/Money Laundering continues to be the leading characterization of suspicious activity reported by depository institutions. Filings for 2006 represent the first time where reported instances of this summary characterization actually decreased from the previous year.
• Since April 1996, 53,564 depository institution SARs have been filed identifying Consumer Loan Fraud as the characterization of suspicious activity. Of these reports, 56% were filed in 2005 and 2006. Consumer Loan Fraud filings in 2006 increased 75% over those filed in 2005.
• Depository institution SARs identifying False Statement as the suspicious activity increased 67% since 2005.
• Depository institution SARs identifying Mortgage Loan Fraud as the suspicious activity increased 44% since 2005.
• Depository institution SARs identifying Bribery/Gratuity as the suspicious activity decreased 46% since 2005.
• When Identify Theft was first listed on forms as a suspicious activity in July 2003, it ranked 20th among those characterizations identified in filings. It has continued to become more prevalent in comparison since then and is presently ranked 8th amongst summary characterizations.
• Identification of Check Fraud as a suspicious activity continues to rise. Currently, it maintains its standing as the second most reported characterization of suspicious activity, notwithstanding the enhancements of the nation's check clearing system associated with the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21) enacted in October 2004.
• The largest five financial institutions (based on asset size) accounted for 21% of total SAR filings in 2006. This reflects a decrease of 15% from the previous year for the same institutions.