Suspicious Activity Reports: A Practitioner's Guide to SARs and STRs

Financial institutions and other regulated businesses are expected to identify and report suspicious activity that may be linked to money laundering, fraud, terrorist financing, or other financial crimes. This is where Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) come in.
 

While the names and filing requirements differ across jurisdictions, the purpose is similar: to report reasonable grounds for suspicion to the relevant financial intelligence authority without alerting the subject of the report. For compliance teams, the challenge is knowing what constitutes suspicion, when an internal alert should become a SAR or STR, who makes the final filing decision, and how to document the process properly. This guide provides a practical framework for managing that process.