Bank Secrecy Act: Increased Use of Exemption Provisions Could Reduce Currency Transaction Reporting While Maintaining Usefulness to Law Enforcement Efforts

摘要

To aid law enforcement efforts against financial crimes, under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) depository institutions must file the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) currency transaction report (CTR) form on their customers' cash transactions of more than $10,000. While FinCEN's regulations allow institutions to exempt certain customers, over 15 million CTRs were filed in 2006. Public Law 109-351 directed GAO to report on (1) the usefulness of CTRs to law enforcement; (2) depository institutions' costs of meeting CTR requirements; and (3) ways to encourage use of exemptions to avoid unnecessary CTRs. Among other things, GAO obtained data from FinCEN on CTRs and exemptions from 2004 to 2006, surveyed 115 state and local law enforcement agencies and 680 depository institutions, held structured interviews with officials of federal agencies and depository institutions, and reviewed relevant laws and regulations. According to federal, state, and local law enforcement officials, CTRs provide unique and reliable information essential to a variety of efforts, and recent advances in technology have enhanced law enforcement agencies' ability to use CTR data by integrating it with other information. In addition to supporting specific investigations, CTR requirements aid law enforcement by forcing criminals attempting to avoid reportable transactions to act in ways that increase chances of detection through other methods.