Suspicious Activity Report
A Suspicious Activity Report is a formal disclosure made to the National Crime Agency (NCA) when a person in a regulated sector knows or suspects that someone is engaged in money laundering or terrorist financing. Filing a SAR provides a defence against money laundering offences. Failure to file when there is grounds to do so is itself a criminal offence.
accountants must have a clear internal escalation route so that staff can report suspicion to the nominated officer (MLRO), who then decides whether to submit a SAR to the NCA.
Other terms that go with Suspicious Activity Report
A Money Laundering Reporting Officer is the individual within a regulated business who is responsible for receiving internal suspicious activity reports, deciding whether to submit external SARs to the National Crime Agency, and overseeing the firm's AML compliance programme. Appointing an MLRO is a legal requirement for businesses within the scope of MLR 2017. In SRA-regulated law firms, the MLRO role sits alongside the Money Laundering Compliance Officer (MLCO) — the MLRO owns SAR reporting under POCA; the MLCO owns the firm's overall AML system under MLR 2017.
Terrorist financing is the provision or collection of funds with the intention or knowledge that they will be used, in whole or in part, to carry out a terrorist act. Unlike money laundering — where the underlying funds are criminal in origin — terrorist financing can involve legitimately sourced money. Both money laundering and terrorist financing are covered by MLR 2017 and the Terrorism Act 2000.
Put Suspicious Activity Report into practice with Certivus
Knowing the term is the first step. Certivus gives you the workflows — client intake, CDD, EDD, PEP and sanctions screening, audit-ready records — to apply it across every client.
Back to the full glossary