DATE: January 17, 2025
SUBJECT: Legislative Branch Requests for SAR Information
- PURPOSE. This Order sets forth Departmental policy for responding to requests by Congress, legislative agencies and/or other components of the Legislative Branch (collectively, the Legislative Branch) for suspicious activity reports (SARs) or information that would reveal the existence of a SAR in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and considering the particular sensitivity of such documents.
- SCOPE. This Order applies to all bureaus, offices, and organizations in the Department of the Treasury, including the offices of Inspector General within the Department. The provisions of this Order shall not be construed to interfere with or impede the authorities or independence of the offices of Inspector General within the Department.
- POLICY.
- Background. Congress enacted the statutes that comprise the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to help combat illicit finance activity. One of the BSA’s main purposes is to require reports and records that are “highly useful in criminal, tax, or regulatory investigations, risk assessments, or proceedings” or “intelligence or counterintelligence activities, including analysis, to protect against terrorism.” To that end, the BSA authorizes the Secretary to require financial institutions to report any “suspicious transaction relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation.” The BSA’s express purposes also include preventing the laundering of money and the financing of terrorism, facilitating the tracking of money that has been sourced through criminal activity, and assessing illicit finance risks to financial institutions to protect the financial system from criminal abuse.
- Sensitivity of SARs. Safeguarding SARs is critical to law enforcement efforts to investigate money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit finance activity. SARs are highly sensitive and confidential. These documents contain personally identifiable information, details about financial transactions, and unconfirmed information regarding potential violations of law or regulation. Unauthorized use or disclosure of such information — whether intentional or inadvertent — can undermine potential or ongoing investigations or proceedings as well as the national security of the United States. In addition, unauthorized use or disclosure of unconfirmed information can unfairly damage the reputation of individuals, businesses, or other organizations. Ultimately, the improper use or disclosure of this highly sensitive and confidential information can undermine the BSA’s purposes and the Executive Branch’s conduct of law enforcement, intelligence, and national security activities.
- Legal limitations on disclosure. Given the critical need to protect this information, the BSA generally prohibits the disclosure of SARs as well as information revealing the existence of a SAR. Current or former employees or contractors of the federal government (or any state, local, tribal, or territorial government) are prohibited from disclosing a SAR or information that would reveal the existence of a SAR except to the extent necessary to fulfill official duties. 31 U.S.C. § 5318(g)(2)(A)(ii). Violations of the BSA’s confidentiality requirements can carry substantial civil and criminal penalties. 31 U.S.C. §§ 5321, 5322. The Department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard SARs, and it has provided regulatory guidance on their confidentiality for decades. See 31 C.F.R. § 1010.950. Information provided subject to the limits in existing regulation must be received “in confidence” and “shall not be disclosed to any person except for official purposes relating to the investigation, proceeding or matter in connection with which the information is sought.” FinCEN imposes strict limitations on the access, use, or re-dissemination of BSA data, including SARs, by recipients as well as audits and inspection controls to prevent and detect violations; FinCEN also requires training for users of BSA information, including on statutory civil and criminal penalties for disclosures.
- Protection of SARs from unauthorized disclosures. In light of the particular sensitivity of SARs, as well as information revealing the existence of a SAR, and the need to properly protect this information from unauthorized use or disclosure, it is Department policy that—in the very limited circumstances where such disclosure is legally permissible and subject to the accommodation process that guides responses to requests by the Legislative Branch—no Department personnel may respond to requests by the Legislative Branch for a SAR or information that would reveal the existence of a SAR without first: (i) asserting appropriate privileges and defenses to disclosure; (ii) ensuring the justification for disclosure is consistent with the purposes of the BSA; (iii) working with relevant law enforcement entities to identify law enforcement sensitivities and properly assert appropriate law enforcement privileges; (iv) receiving the approval of the General Counsel; (iv) providing written and oral explanations of the sensitivity of BSA information and applicable legal restrictions on dissemination and disclosure of such information; and (v) taking all available steps to safeguard such information to the maximum extent possible. Such steps may include, for example, producing responsive documents with necessary redactions and for review only in a Department facility, and only to a limited number of agreed-upon recipients with a need to know such information. Given the protections inherent to classified information, the requirements of this subparagraph do not apply to SARs or information that would reveal the existence of SARs when contained within classified intelligence reports provided to the Legislative Branch, provided the disclosure is consistent with the purposes of the BSA.
- Protection of other BSA information. In addition to SARs, FinCEN maintains other categories of BSA-protected information, such as Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs), Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs), and Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI). These categories of information may implicate similar statutory restrictions, privacy interests, and law enforcement sensitivities as SARs. When responding to requests by the Legislative Branch for other BSA information, the Department should consider on a case-by-case basis, in consultation with the Office of General Counsel, whether the procedures outlined in subpart (d) are similarly necessary and appropriate.
- AUTHORITIES.
- 12 U.S.C. § 1829b; 12 U.S.C. §§ 1951–1960; 31 U.S.C. §§ 310, 5311–5314, 5316–5336
- 31 C.F.R. Chapter X
- OFFICES OF PRIMARY INTEREST. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; Office of Chief Counsel, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement and Intelligence; Office of the General Counsel; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs.
/S/
Janet L. Yellen
Secretary of the Treasury