The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reported in its Second Quarter 2011 Analysis of mortgage loan fraud suspicious activity reports (MLF SARs) that financial institutions filed 29,558 MLF SARs in the second quarter of 2011 up from 15,727 in the same quarter of 2010.

Most U.S. financial institutions have significantly increased their investment in anti-money laundering (AML) programs, with some spending almost twice as much as they did in 2007. These developments were reported in a recent survey by KPMG International, a network of firms that provide audit, finance, and advisory services.

Volume 8, Issue 3

In releasing its recent report on mortgage fraud (see “Mortgage Fraud Persists, FinCEN Reports” elsewhere in this issue), FinCEN reviewed a subset of quarterly SAR filings that reported mortgage-related suspicious activity occurring within 90 days of the filing of the SAR. These SARs stand out from the more common type of mortgage-related SARs, which usually report on activities that occurred earlier, when the mortgage was written, and that are only now coming to light after the mortgage goes into default.

The following questions and answers were compiled by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to help banks and other financial institutions comply with OFAC requirements. All of the questions below were submitted by financial institutions.