A Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) requires financial institutions to provide a lot of detailed information. The five parts of a SAR include:
Part I – Subject information
Part II – Suspicious Activity Information
Part III – Information about Financial Institution Where Activity Occurred
Part IV – Filing Institution
Part V – Narrative
Part V (Narrative) is where you get to tell the story of what happened, but it can also cause the most problems. For instance, we commonly see where information provided in the Narrative doesn’t line up or even contradicts information provided in the other parts. A common example is when an institution completes a Part I for let’s say two suspects but in the Narrative additional suspects are named. All suspects identified should have a corresponding Part I.
Published 2026/05/26