The New York Clearing House has sent an open letter to the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network asking it to allow banks to share suspicious activity reports (SARs) within their international organizations for enterprise-wide AML compliance purposes more easily.

The institution, founded in 1853, wants FinCEN to do this by providing fresh 'guidance'. Currently, FinCEN's regulations and guidance prohibit every US depository institution from sharing SAR information with any foreign branch or affiliate. These restrictions, so the argument goes, impede globally-active US depository institutions in their efforts to conduct effective enterprise-wide AML risk management, assessment and activity monitoring.

TCH is calling on FinCEN to:
(i) issue written guidance that allows a US depository institution to share SARs with a foreign branch or affiliate, as long as that branch or affiliate:
(a) is located in a country that is a  member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) or
(b) has signed a written confidentiality agreement or arrangement with the US depository institution, and
(ii) reaffirm the authority of US depository institutions to share the underlying facts, transactions, and documents upon which a SAR is based and, in particular, clarify that the fact that information from underlying facts, transactions, or documents has been included in a SAR does not subject that information to the US Government's general prohibition against disclosing a SAR or information that would reveal the existence of a SAR.