The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), enacted in 1970, is a U.S. law designed to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and other forms of financial crime by requiring financial institutions to maintain records and report certain types of financial transactions. Also known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, the BSA obligates banks and other financial institutions to implement anti-money laundering (AML) programs, conduct thorough due diligence on customers and monitor and report suspicious activities.

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Of particular interest, under the regulations that implement the BSA, financial institutions must report on suspicious activity(ies) that might signify money laundering, tax evasion or other criminal activities via a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).