Notice2024-02747
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Reports by Financial Institutions of Suspicious Transactions and FinCEN Form 111-Suspicious Activity Report
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 12, 2024
Issuing agencies
Treasury DepartmentFinancial Crimes Enforcement Network
Abstract
As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comment on a renewal, without change, of existing information collection requirements relating to reports of suspicious transactions. Under Bank Secrecy Act regulations, financial institutions are required to report suspicious transactions using FinCEN Form 111 (the suspicious activity report, or SAR). This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 29 (Monday, February 12, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 29 (Monday, February 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9913-9915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-02747]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal;
Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Reports by Financial
Institutions of Suspicious Transactions and FinCEN Form 111--Suspicious
Activity Report
AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Treasury.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, FinCEN invites comment on a renewal, without change,
of existing information collection requirements relating to reports of
suspicious transactions. Under Bank Secrecy Act regulations, financial
institutions are required to report suspicious transactions using
FinCEN Form 111 (the suspicious activity report, or SAR). This request
for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA).
DATES: Written comments are welcome and must be received on or before
April 12, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal E-rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Refer to Docket Number
FINCEN-2024-0004 and the specific Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
control numbers 1506-0001, 1506-0006, 1506-0015, 1506-0019, 1506-0029,
1506-0061, and 1506-0065.
<bullet> Mail: Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket Number FINCEN-
2024-0004 and OMB control numbers 1506-0001, 1506-0006, 1506-0015,
1506-0019, 1506-0029, 1506-0061, and 1506-0065.
Please submit comments by one method only. Comments will be
reviewed consistent with the PRA \1\ and applicable OMB regulations and
guidance. All comments submitted in response to this notice will become
a matter of public record. Therefore, you should submit only
information that you wish to make publicly available.
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\1\ Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FinCEN's Regulatory Support Section at
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1-800-767-2825 or electronically at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d4b2a6b794b2bdbab7b1bafab3bba2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f89e8a9bb89e91969b9d96d69f978e">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Statutory and Regulatory Provisions
The legislative framework generally referred to as the Bank Secrecy
Act (BSA) consists of the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting
Act of 1970, as amended by the Uniting and Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act), Public Law 107-56 (October 26,
2001), and other legislation, including the Anti-Money Laundering Act
of 2020 (AML Act).\2\ The BSA is codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b, 12 U.S.C.
1951-1960, and 31 U.S.C. 5311-5314 and 5316-5336, and notes thereto,
with implementing regulations at 31 CFR chapter X.
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\2\ The AML Act was enacted as Division F, sections 6001-6511,
of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Public Law 116-283, 134 Stat. 3388 (2021).
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The BSA authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury (the
``Secretary''), inter
[[Page 9914]]
alia, to require financial institutions to keep records and file
reports that are determined to have a high degree of usefulness in
criminal, tax, or regulatory matters, risk assessments or proceedings,
or in the conduct of intelligence or counter-intelligence activities to
protect against international terrorism, and to implement AML programs
and compliance procedures.\3\ Regulations implementing the BSA appear
at 31 CFR chapter X. The authority of the Secretary to administer the
BSA has been delegated to the Director of FinCEN.\4\
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\3\ Section 358 of the USA PATRIOT Act expanded the purpose of
the BSA by including a reference to reports and records ``that have
a high degree of usefulness in intelligence or counterintelligence
activities to protect against international terrorism.'' Section
6101 of the AML Act further expanded the purpose of the BSA to cover
such matters as preventing money laundering, tracking illicit funds,
assessing risk, and establishing appropriate frameworks for
information sharing.
\4\ Treasury Order 180-01 (Jan. 14, 2020).
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Under 31 U.S.C. 5318(g), the Secretary is authorized to require
financial institutions to report any suspicious transaction relevant to
a possible violation of law or regulation. Regulations implementing 31
U.S.C. 5318(g) are found at 31 CFR 1020.320, 1021.320, 1022.320,
1023.320, 1024.320, 1025.320, 1026.320, 1029.320, and 1030.320.
II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
Title: Reports by Financial Institutions of Suspicious Transactions
(31 CFR 1020.320, 1021.320, 1022.320, 1023.320, 1024.320, 1025.320,
1026.320, and 1029.320).
OMB Control Numbers: 1506-0001, 1506-0006, 1506-0015, 1506-0019,
1506-0029, 1506-0061, and 1506-0065.\5\
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\5\ The SAR regulatory reporting requirements are currently
covered under the following OMB control numbers: 1506-0001 (31 CFR
1020.320--Reports by banks of suspicious transactions); 1506-0006
(31 CFR 1021.320--Reports by casinos of suspicious transactions);
1506-0015 (31 CFR 1022.320--Reports by money services businesses of
suspicious transactions); 1506-0019 (31 CFR 1023.320--Reports by
brokers or dealers in securities of suspicious transactions, 31 CFR
1024.320--Reports by mutual funds of suspicious transactions, and 31
CFR 1026.320--Reports by futures commission merchants and
introducing brokers in commodities of suspicious transactions);
1506-0029 (31 CFR 1025.320--Reports by insurance companies of
suspicious transactions); and 1506-0061 (31 CFR 1029.320--Reports by
loan or finance companies of suspicious transactions). The PRA does
not apply to reports by one government entity to another government
entity. For that reason, there is no OMB control number associated
with 31 CFR 1030.320--Reports of suspicious transactions by housing
government sponsored enterprises. OMB control number 1506-0065
applies to FinCEN Report 111--SAR. An administrative burden of one
hour is assigned to each of the SAR regulation OMB control numbers
to maintain the requirements in force.
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Form Number: FinCEN Form 111--Suspicious Transaction Report (SAR).
Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this notice to renew the OMB control
numbers for the SAR regulations and form.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit institutions, and
non-profit institutions.
Type of Review: Renewal without change of a currently approved
information collection.
Frequency: As required.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,458 financial institutions.\6\
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\6\ This estimate is based on the observed number of unique
filers associated with at least one SAR filing received in calendar
year 2022, as reported by the BSA E-Filing System as of 12/31/2022.
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Estimated Total Annual Responses: 4,367,197 SARs.\7\
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\7\ This estimate is based on the observed number of SAR filings
received in calendar year 2022, as reported by the BSA E-Filing
System as of 12/31/2022.
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Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden per Response: The
average estimated PRA burden, measured in hours per SAR, is
approximately 1.98 hours.\8\ On May 26, 2020, FinCEN issued a 60-day
notice to renew the SAR OMB controls numbers (``2020 Notice''). In the
2020 Notice, FinCEN proposed to expand the scope of factors to consider
as part of the PRA burden of complying with SAR requirements. In
addition, as described in the 2020 Notice, to better estimate the
burden associated with complying with SAR requirements, FinCEN
conducted an in-depth analysis of the population of 2019 SAR filing
statistics. FinCEN analyzed the 2019 SAR filings grouped by a number of
different factors, including the following: (i) the distribution of SAR
submissions by type of filing (original or continuing SAR); (ii) the
filer's financial institution type; (iii) how many SARs the filer filed
in a year; (iv) the method of filing (batch filing versus discrete
filing); (v) the SAR narrative length; and (vi) the number of
suspicious activities per report. The analysis and calculations
detailed in the 2020 Notice ultimately resulted in an estimate of
approximately 1.98 hours in filer burden per SAR.
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\8\ See FinCEN, Agency Information Collection Activities;
Proposed Renewal; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of the
Bank Secrecy Act Reports by Financial Institutions of Suspicious
Transactions at 31 CFR 1020.320, 1021.320, 10022,320, 1023.320,
1024.320, 1025.320, 1026.320, and 1029.320, and FinCEN Report 111--
Suspicious Activity Report, 85 FR 31598 (May 26, 2020). See 85 FR
31600 in the 2020 Notice for the total number of SARs filed in
calendar year 2019 (2,751,694 SARs). See 85 FR 31611 in the 2020
Notice for the total estimated recordkeeping and reporting annual
PRA burden of complying with the SAR requirements (5,462,026 hours).
We are using the estimated hourly burden per SAR calculated for
purposes of the 2020 Notice.
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FinCEN received 22 public comments in response to the 2020 Notice.
Commenters were generally supportive of FinCEN's efforts to more
accurately estimate the PRA burden associated with the SAR filing
requirements. Some commenters had specific recommendations regarding
factors for FinCEN to consider in future in-depth analysis of the SAR
filing population. However, none of those commenters provided specific
sources of data to contradict the burden estimate of 1.98 hours of
burden per SAR filed. In the absence of public comments to suggest
otherwise, FinCEN considers it reasonable to continue to use the
estimate of 1.98 hours per SAR filed for the population of 2022 SAR
filing statistics as outlined in this notice. In connection with a
variety of initiatives FinCEN is undertaking to implement the AML Act,
FinCEN intends to conduct, in the future, additional assessments of the
PRA burden associated with BSA requirements, including SAR
requirements.
Estimated Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
8,647,050 hours.\9\
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\9\ This estimate is derived from the calculation 4,367,197 SARs
multiplied by 1.98 hours per SAR.
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Estimated Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost:
$326,772,020. This estimate applies the weighted average hourly labor
cost of $37.79 per hour \10\ to the estimated total annual reporting
and recordkeeping burden hours above (8,647,050 hours).
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\10\ We are using the weighted average hourly labor cost
calculated for purposes of the 2020 Notice, which is based on data
for calendar year 2019. See 85 FR 31611 for the total estimated
recordkeeping and reporting annual PRA burden of complying with the
SAR requirements in the 2020 Notice (5,462,026 hours). See 85 FR
31611 for the total estimated recordkeeping and reporting cost of
complying with the SAR requirements in the 2020 Notice
($206,422,989). The average estimated hourly cost per SAR burden
hour in the 2020 Notice is $37.79 per hour ($206,422,989 divided by
5,462,026 total burden hours).
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An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of
information displays a valid OMB control number. Records required to be
retained under the BSA must be retained for five years.
Request for Comments
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will
become a matter of public record. Comments are invited on: (i) whether
the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall
have practical utility; (ii) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the collection of
[[Page 9915]]
information; (iii) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; (iv) ways to minimize the burden of
the collection of information on respondents, including through the use
of automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology; and (v) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide
information.
Andrea M. Gacki,
Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2024-02747 Filed 2-9-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-02-P
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