What is the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and what provisions does it contain regarding money laundering?
Enacted in 1970, Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (the “BSA”) was the U.S. government’s pioneering effort to combat money laundering in the United States. Congress ratified the BSA to prevent financial institutions from being used as intermediaries for, or to hide the deposits that derived from, criminal activity. Under Title I of the BSA, financial institutions and securities brokers and dealers are required to keep extensive records of the transactions of their customers and provide law enforcement agencies with information of certain transactions that might be of “particular interest.” In 1986, the BSA was greatly augmented by the passage of the Money Laundering Control Act (MLCA), which classified money laundering as a crime for the first time ever. The strengthened BSA includes powerful anti-money laundering laws with “extraterritorial reach” and stiff violation penalties. The BSA was further amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. Pursuant to the BSA’s expanded regulations, financial ins
