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Article: Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)

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The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has national responsibility for receiving, analysing and disseminating intelligence submitted through the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) regime, to share with law enforcement agencies at home and internationally. The UKFIU sits at the heart of the regime, providing a gateway to reporters and a repository of data to inform law enforcement. The value of SARs is wide-reaching, and it is important SARs are of a quality that allows law enforcement to exploit the intelligence effectively.

The New SAR Portal
On Monday 18th September, the new SAR Portal was launched to the public. All reporters will need to register for the SAR Portal. Once a reporter registers for the new SAR Portal, it is expected that this will be the sole route by which the reporter submits SARs. It is recommended that registration is completed as soon as possible as the current SAR Online system is planned to be decommissioned later this year. The new portal can be accessed directly from the NCA website. Further guidance about how to register for and use the new portal is also available on the NCA website.

Get in touch with the Reporter Engagement Team
The UKFIU’s Reporter Engagement Team works with reporters from across the regulated sectors to improve the quality of SARs submitted.

The team are able to:

  • Deliver presentations and workshops to reporters looking at SARs best practice
  • Attend external events and conferences for reporters
  • Provide one to one feedback and answer specific SAR best practice related queries

The Reporter Engagement Team also facilitates a number of sector-specific working groups and attends various sector-level forums, including roundtables for those in the legal sector hosted by The Law Society.

You can contact the UKFIU’s Reporter Engagement Team at UKFIUEngagement@nca.gov.uk.

Keep up to date with updates from the UKFIU
The UKFIU’s SARs in Action magazine is published throughout the year and each publication focuses on specific issues relevant to the exploitation of financial intelligence to assist in preventing and detecting crime. All issues of SARs in Action can be found on the NCA website, and the latest issue is available here. Of particular interest to the legal sector is the article on Professional Enablers on pages 12-16 in the latest issue.

The UKFIU also has its own Podcast, available to stream and download on all regular streaming sites, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Google Podcasts, and Amazon Music. The episodes feature panellists and subject matter experts from across the economic crime landscape, covering a wide-range of topics. Keep an eye out for an upcoming podcast episode focused on the legal sector.

Finally, the UKFIU publishes guidance on how to submit better quality SARs on the NCA website. The UKFIU’s guidance is updated from time to time, so it is important all reporters are receiving updates from the UKFIU. There are various ways to do this: