Feds Have Help On SARS (330 Pages Of It)

Federal regulators have released clearer guidelines on when to file suspicious-activity reports. The guidelines follow complaints primarily from the banking industry that examiners were second-guessing their decisions on when to file SARS and when not to. "Examiners should focus on whether the bank has an effective SAR decision-making process, not individual SAR decisions," said the manual on compliance. "The bank should not be criticized for the failure to file a SAR unless the failure is significant or accompanied by evidence of bad faith." The 330-page manual was the work of multiple agencies.