Banks are subject to strict anti-money laundering laws, including the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, which created the record keeping and reporting requirement.  It is a bank's responsibility to report all suspicious activity to law enforcement or be subject to fines of up to $1 million a day. 

Bankers are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of their customers and the security of their data. If requested by law enforcement for customer information, banks will not release any information unless they have a subpoena or search warrant.

• New ABA Committee Works on Solutions to Improve BSA Effectiveness (Sept. 24, 2007)
• ABA to Hold 20th Annual AML Conference October 21-23 in Washington (July 30, 2007)
• ABA Applauds Treasury Efforts To Improve AML Effectiveness (June 22, 2007)
• ABA Conducts National Survey of Compliance Professionals (June 4, 2007)
• ABA Provides Testimony Urging Congress To Improve The SAR Process (May 10, 2007)
• ABA Statement on Cross-Border Wire Transfer Data Collection Feasibility Study (January 18, 2007)
• ABA Applauds Introduction of Seasoned Customer Exemption Act (January 10, 2007)
• Top Treasury Officials to Address Money Laundering Enforcement Conference (August 29, 2006)
• ABA Supports Improvements in Cash Transaction Reporting (May 18, 2006)
• ABA Hires New Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (May 16, 2006)
• ABA Extends Relationship with LexisNexis, Endorses Entire Instantid Family of Products (March 2, 2006)

ABA Correspondence and Testimony

• ABA House Testimony Urging Improvements to SAR Process (May 10, 2007) pdf
• Letter to Fed, FinCEN on Changing Wire Transfer Threshold (August 21, 2006) pdf
• Letter to Treasury on Plan to Collect Wire Transfer Data (August 2, 2006) pdf
• ABA Comments on FinCEN ANPR Regarding Access to Banking Services by MSBs (July 7, 2006) pdf
• Wayne Abernathy Testifies on Money Services Businesses (June 21, 2006) pdf
• Testimony on CTR Exemption for Seasoned Business Customers (May 18, 2006) pdf
• Brad Rock's testimony on Regulatory Relief; CTR reform on pg.7 (April 3, 2006)
• John Byrne's Testimony on Preventing Financial Crimes  (May 26, 2005) pdf
• John Byrne's testimony on anti-money laundering, House Financial Services (May 4, 2005) pdf
• John Byrne's testimony on AML compliance and money services businesses, Senate Banking (April 26, 2005) pdf
• ABA Comment Letter to FinCEN regarding CTR overload (February 18, 2005) pdf
• ABA comments on OTS BSA paperwork estimate (February 14, 2005) pdf
• ABA letter to regulators seeking BSA compliance reform (January 10, 2005) pdf
• ABA letter to Treasury on bank examination procedures (September 21, 2004) pdf
• ABA Comment Letter to FinCEN regarding 2003-2008 Strategic Plan (August 21, 2003) pdf
• ABA Comment Letter to OFAC regarding Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines (March 31, 2003) pdf
• ABA Comment Letter to Treasury Department regarding Patriot Act Task Force (January 23, 2003) pdf
• ABA Comment Letter to FinCEN regarding section 326 of USA Patriot Act(September 6, 2002) pdf
• ABA Comment Letter to FinCEN regarding section 314 of USA Patriot Act 
  (April 2, 2002) pdf 
• ABA Resource Guide: Identification and Verification of Account Holders(February 12, 2002) pdf 
• Testimony of John J. Byrne on Money Laundering before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives (February 12, 2002) pdf
• ABA Strongly Supports H.R. 3004, the "Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001" (October 16, 2001) pdf
• Testimony of Edward L. Yingling on Money Laundering before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives (October 3, 2001) pdf  

More Resources

• ABA/ABA Money Laundering Enforcement Conference
• FinCEN's SAR Activity Review and Other Reports 
• SAR Q&A, ABA Banking Journal (February 2005) pdf
• BSA and Money Services Businesses, ABA Banking Journal (February 2005) pdf
• U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network