Deb Connor, Marc-Alain Galeazzi, and Liz Aloi published an article in Law360 that discussed the joint statement from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network that clarified how banks and credit unions can communicate with customers about suspicious or potentially fraudulent activity without violating SAR confidentiality requirements.
They noted the joint statement confirmed that SAR confidentiality requirements do not preclude banks from communicating with their customers regarding potentially fraudulent transactions and other suspicious activity or account closures.
The authors wrote, "Taken together, the 2025 guidance and 2026 joint statement suggests a coordinated effort to address a recurring compliance problem: that institutions sometimes interpret SAR confidentiality more broadly than the regulations require and in doing so, restrict potentially useful communications that the BSA itself does not prohibit. The joint statement closes the gap between what the law permits and what compliance departments, understandably, have treated as permitted."
Read the full article.
