Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Publishes SAR Statistics
by: Anna DeSimone
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) has published the first issue of SAR Stats, the successor publication to The SAR Activity Review: By the Numbers. This issue examines only data contained on the 1,369,529 unique FinCEN SARs (Form 111) with filing dates between March 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013. The adoption of the new unified SAR form and the implementation of e-Filing enable the financial industry to report suspicious activity more swiftly and with more specificity. The changes also mean the data presented in this issue are a new baseline for financial sector reporting on suspicious activity. Direct comparisons with reporting numbers in prior years (year on year numbers) will not be presented in this inaugural issue of SAR Stats. The overall 1,369,529 retrieved for this report is organized and presented by industry.
SARS Filings since CY 2010
BSA data, particularly SARs, continue to play an integral role in law enforcement investigations and financial regulatory compliance at both the federal and state levels. In the first six months of 2014 alone, over 350 unique agencies representing a broad cross section of federal, state, and local law enforcement, regulators, self-regulated organizations, and state attorney offices operating nationwide accessed Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data via FinCEN’s portal.
Thousands of agents, analysts, and investigative personnel from each of these entities have conducted in excess of 1 million queries against the database during that period. In addition, approximately 94 Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) review teams across the country bring together investigators and prosecutors from different agencies to regularly review reports related to their geographic area of responsibility. In the second quarter of 2014 alone, these teams reviewed a total of over 180,000 SARs.
Types of Mortgage Fraud
- Origination Fraud (Unspecified)
- Application Misrepresentation
- Loan Origination Fraud
- Short Sale Fraud / Colusion
- Questionable Tax ID Provided at Origination
- Undisclosed Mortgage Debt / Liabilities
- Mortgage Loan Fraud (Unspecified)
The report provides links to tables which list the filing activity for all of the U.S. States and numerous summaries which show rankings of fraud types and other characteristics. Data is provided separately for SARs filed by depository institutions and other types of institutions, such as insurance companies and mortgage lenders.
Filings Ranked by U.S. States for “Other” Financial Institutions
Mary 2012 – December 2013
|
Rank
|
State/Territory
|
Filings (Overall)
|
Percentage (Overall)
|
|
1
|
Utah
|
7,256
|
25.30%
|
|
2
|
California
|
3,450
|
12.03%
|
|
3
|
New York
|
2,744
|
9.57%
|
|
4
|
Florida
|
1,979
|
6.90%
|
|
5
|
Delaware
|
1,963
|
6.84%
|
|
6
|
Tennessee
|
1,193
|
4.16%
|
|
7
|
Michigan
|
1,097
|
3.82%
|
|
8
|
Texas
|
905
|
3.16%
|
|
9
|
Maryland
|
639
|
2.23%
|
|
10
|
Ohio
|
592
|
2.06%
|
|
11
|
Massachusetts
|
581
|
2.03%
|
|
12
|
Illinois
|
479
|
1.67%
|
|
13
|
Hawaii
|
463
|
1.61%
|
|
14
|
North Carolina
|
406
|
1.42%
|
|
15
|
Missouri
|
404
|
1.41%
|
|
16
|
Puerto Rico
|
388
|
1.35%
|
|
17
|
New Jersey
|
384
|
1.34%
|
|
18
|
Kansas
|
349
|
1.22%
|
|
19
|
Unknown/Blank
|
346
|
1.21%
|
|
20
|
New Hampshire
|
298
|
1.04%
|
Note: remaining U.S. states filings were less than 1%
About the Author:
Anna is President and Founder of Bankers Advisory, Inc. She can be reached at anna@bankersadvisory.com.
Anna DeSimone founded Bankers Advisory in 1986 and is a nationally recognized authority in residential mortgage lending. She has received numerous industry awards and has authored more than 40 best practices guides and hundreds of articles.
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