The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) has released guidance for firms, noting several emerging trends connected to Covid-19 including:
- imposter scams
- investment scams
- product scams
- insider trading
Firms are advised to remain alert to suspicious activity and encouraged to enter “COVID19” in suspicious activity reports (SARs).
However, firms that have concerns about delays filing required Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reports, should contact FinCen. FinCen assures firms its Regulatory Support Section “will continue to be available to support institutions for the duration of the COVID19 pandemic.”
For suspected suspicious transactions linked to COVID-19, along with checking the appropriate suspicious activity report-template (SAR-template) box(es) for certain typologies, FinCEN also encourages financial institutions to enter “COVID19” in Field 2 of the SAR-template.
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