Money Laundering: The Volume of Currency Transaction Reports Filed Can and Should Be Reduced
(Testimony, 03/15/94, GAO/T-GGD-94-113)
GAO Report in PDF Format [1.24 Mb] The Bank Secrecy Act requires banks and other financial institutions to file a currency transaction report for each transaction involving more than $10,000 in cash. The number of reports filed has been steadily increasing--as of April 1993 nearly 50 million reports had been filed, and this figure could double in the next three years. Although these reports are extremely useful in detecting and prosecuting money laundering, GAO concludes that the volume of filings could be substantially reduced without jeopardizing law enforcement. In fact, the large volume of reports has made analysis difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. Many of the reports being filed are of routine business transactions that could have been exempted from being reported. GAO supports the provisions contained in S. 1664 that would encourage greater use of exemptions for routine transactions with no law enforcement value. --------------------------- Indexing Terms ----------------------------- REPORTNUM: T-GGD-94-113 TITLE: Money Laundering: The Volume of Currency Transaction Reports Filed Can and Should Be Reduced DATE: 03/15/94 SUBJECT: Money laundering Reporting requirements Law enforcement agencies Data bases Financial institutions Intelligence gathering operations Crimes or offenses Financial disclosure reporting White collar crime Financial records IDENTIFIER: Treasury Currency Transaction Report Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Treasury Enforcement Communications System California Florida Illinois Maryland New York Georgia Nebraska North Carolina Utah ------------------------------------------------------------------------ See the GAO FAQ - Section 2.0 for printed copy ordering information. The FAQ is automatically retrieved with all WAIS search results or can be obtained by sending e-mail to: info@www.gao.gov
