Office of Thrift Supervision March 9, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The OTS is proposing to amend its regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) governing the confidentiality of a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to: clarify the scope of the statutory prohibition on the disclosure by a financial institution of a report of a suspicious transaction, as it applies to savings associations and service corporations; address the statutory prohibition on the disclosure by the government of a report of a suspicious transaction, as that prohibition applies to the OTS's standards governing the disclosure of SARs; clarify the exclusive standard applicable to the disclosure of a SAR, or any information that would reveal the existence of a SAR, by the OTS is ``to fulfill official duties consistent with the purposes of the BSA''; and modify the safe harbor provision in its rules to include changes made by the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act. These amendments are based upon a similar proposal being contemporaneously issued by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).