# Bank Secrecy Act **Entity class:** Statutory reporting and recordkeeping framework **Domain:** Financial regulation / anti-money laundering / national security **Doc Type:** Legal Architecture Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition The **Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)** is the principal U.S. anti-money-laundering recordkeeping and reporting framework administered by [[wiki/Financial Crimes Enforcement Network|FinCEN]]. It requires covered financial institutions and other regulated businesses to retain defined records, maintain compliance programs, and file reports that can be highly useful to law enforcement, regulators, counterterrorism agencies, and the intelligence community. ## Data Products BSA data includes [[wiki/Bank Secrecy Act Suspicious Activity Report|Suspicious Activity Reports]], Currency Transaction Reports, reports concerning certain cross-border currency movements, and other filings required by statute and regulation. The framework creates a governed reporting layer from financial institutions into Treasury. It does not place every ordinary card swipe or bank entry into a universal federal transaction ledger. FinCEN can provide trained, authorized agencies secure access to BSA data and can use Section 314(a) to ask financial institutions to locate accounts or transactions associated with terrorism or significant money laundering. Supporting records can remain with the institution and be supplied under the specific rule or legal process that applies. ## Counterterrorism Significance Because terrorist networks need accounts, cash, merchants, travel, procurement, communications, and counterparties, BSA reports can reveal addresses, account relationships, identity information, banking patterns, travel patterns, and communication methods that connect otherwise separated observations. A filing is an intelligence or investigative input, not by itself proof that a reported person committed a crime. ## Sources / Provenance - [FinCEN — what is BSA data](https://www.fincen.gov/resources/bank-secrecy-act-filing-information/what-bsa-data) - [FinCEN — support of law enforcement](https://www.fincen.gov/resources/law-enforcement/support-law-enforcement) ## Relationships - **administered by:** [[wiki/Financial Crimes Enforcement Network|Financial Crimes Enforcement Network]]. - **report type:** [[wiki/Bank Secrecy Act Suspicious Activity Report|Bank Secrecy Act Suspicious Activity Report]]. - **supports:** [[wiki/Financial Intelligence|Financial Intelligence]] and [[wiki/Terrorist Financing|terrorist-financing]] investigations. - **data boundary:** reporting and recordkeeping requirements are defined; general customer records remain subject to applicable financial-privacy and legal-process rules.