June 12, 2006 News Archive

FinCEN Releases Latest SAR Activity Review
Depository institutions filed 37 percent more Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in 2005 than they did in 2004, according to the latest issue of the SAR Activity Review published by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at the end of May. While money laundering is still the leading reason why depository institutions file SARs, the report highlighted increases in other fraud categories. Between April 1996 and Dec. 31, 2005, depository institutions filed 2,193,361 SARs, with 75,700 indicating suspicion of mortgage fraud, FinCEN said. Of those reports, FinCEN said 59 percent were filed in 2004 and 2005, and the number of mortgage fraud SARs was 41 percent higher in 2005 than 2004. The number of reports filed for possible consumer loan fraud increased by 55 percent in 2005 compared to 2004. However, SARs claiming computer intrusions decreased by 38 percent since 2004. (PDF)

Three Percent Quarterly Gain in Farmland Values
According to the most recent AgLetter, the value of "good" agricultural land increased nine percent from a year ago as of the first quarter of 2006. (PDF, 82KB)

Basel Committee Releases Paper on Supervisory Cooperation
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a paper June 2 outlining the general principles for the sharing of information between home country and host country supervisors under the Basel II capital framework. "One of the key challenges of Basel II is the need to improve communication and coordination among home and host supervisors, which will benefit both supervisors and banks. This paper is a useful tool in helping to achieve that goal," said Basel Chairman Jaime Caruana, who also is the governor of the Bank of Spain. In addition to general principles of information sharing in the context of Basel II, the paper also sets out practical examples of information that could be provided by banks, home supervisors and host supervisors. While the paper primarily focuses on regulators, the role of banks in the process also is covered.