Banks back plan to share SARs with foreign units. For now.

Nikhil Gore was quoted in American Banker about a new FinCEN proposal that would allow some U.S. banks to share suspicious activity reports with their business units in other countries. The program would require banks to submit quarterly reports detailing “any legal and compliance issues related to the financial institution’s participation in the pilot program" and "any technical difficulties and challenges encountered,” according to the proposal. According to Nikhil, without some kind of safe harbor protection, “these provisions mean that, to participate in the program, banks will have to provide fairly extensive information to the government, which the government might attempt to use against them in enforcement proceedings.” Nikhil concluded, stating, “This may drive down participation in the program.”