Bank Secrecy Act

THE BANK SECRECY ACT (BSA, Public Law 91–508), signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970, was formulated in order to detect illegal activities by tracking suspicious financial transactions. Also known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, the BSA is a major crime-fighting tool used by different U.S. government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Since the enactment of the BSA, it has been amended multiple times. These substantial modifications to the BSA include the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which contained the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, and the Money Laundering Suppression Act of 1994. These acts enhanced the enforcement effectiveness of the law by making money-laundering a criminal activity, requiring researchers to develop more ...