[18371]
December 27, 2004
TO: MONEY LAUNDERING RULES WORKING GROUP No. 31-04
OFAC ALERT MEMBERS No. 20-04
TRANSFER AGENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 85-04
RE: FINCEN ISSUES GUIDANCE ON THE FILING OF SARS FOR OFAC MATCHES
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued interpretive guidance last
week clarifying when a suspicious activity report (SAR) should be filed with respect to Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) matches.1 A copy of the guidance is attached.
According to this guidance, the filing of an OFAC blocking report will be deemed by
FinCEN to fulfill the requirement to file an SAR, unless the facts and circumstances
surrounding the OFAC match are independently suspicious (i.e., the transactions would be
reportable under the SAR rules even if there were no OFAC match) or the financial
institution has relevant information to report on an SAR beyond that which is included in
the OFAC report. This guidance reverses FinCEN’s prior position that financial institutions
should file both SARs and OFAC reports on the same transactions.
The guidance specifically relates to OFAC reports relating to blocked transactions with
Specially Designated Global Terrorists, Specially Designated Terrorists, Foreign Terrorist
Organizations, Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker Kingpins, and Specially Designated
Narcotics Traffickers.
Robert C. Grohowski
Associate Counsel
Attachment (in .pdf format)
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1 Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Interpretive Release No. 2004–02 — Unitary
Filing of Suspicious Activity and Blocking Reports, 69 Fed. Reg. 76847 (Dec. 23, 2004).