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Bank Secrecy Act: Surveys of Financial Institutions and CTR Users (GAO-08-385SP, February 2008), an E-supplement to GAO-08-355

GAO-08-385SP Published: Feb 21, 2008. Publicly Released: Feb 21, 2008.
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Highlights

This product lists the questions asked and the summary results from two GAO sample surveys: one of U.S. depository institutions filing at least 120 Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) in 2006, and another of all state and local law enforcement agencies authorized to access CTR data through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) Gateway Program as of May 2007. The Web-based survey of compliance officers or other officials of U.S. depository institutions asked questions about each institution's experience filing CTRs, the use of exemptions from CTR filing, and opinions on possible changes to the CTR filing process. This survey was administered to a random sample of 680 depository institutions, stratified by asset size and institution type, drawn from the eligible population of 3,880 banks and credit unions filing more than 120 CTRs in 2006. Usable responses were received from 469 institutions, for a response rate of 68 percent. The actual number of responses to individual questions may vary, however, depending on the number of institutions eligible to answer a particular question and the number actually providing a response. Because these percentages are subject to sampling error, each of the estimates from this survey is accompanied by a 95 percent confidence interval, which indicates the range we would expect to include the actual population value in 95 percent of the samples we could have drawn. Names and e-mail addresses for officials at sampled institutions were obtained from the institutions' respective regulators. GAO began this survey in September 2007 by e-mailing unique survey ID numbers and passwords; followed up with nonrespondents by e-mail and telephone; and closed the survey in October 2007. The Web-based survey of state and local law enforcement agencies asked questions about each agency's use of CTRs, views on the usefulness of CTRs, and opinions on possible changes to CTR filing requirements. This survey was administered to all 115 state and local agencies that had access to CTR data through the Gateway Program as of May 2007, according to FinCEN records. Usable responses were received from 89 agencies, for a response rate of 77 percent. As with the depository institution survey, the actual number of responses to individual questions may vary, depending on the number of agencies eligible to answer a particular question and the number actually providing a response. The number of actual responses to each question is listed in the results along with the percentage of that number choosing each answer category. Because this survey was administered to all known members of the population, its estimates are not subject to sampling error. However, the practical difficulties of conducting any survey may introduce other non-sampling errors. Names and e-mail addresses for the Gateway contacts were obtained from FinCEN. GAO began this survey in July 2007 by e-mailing unique survey ID numbers and passwords; followed up with nonrespondents by e-mail and telephone; and closed the survey in August 2007. While the wording of the questions in this e-supplement is nearly identical to the Web survey questionnaires that we administered, not all introductory or instruction text is reproduced, and for ease of presentation the formats of the actual questionnaires differ from what is represented here. Answers to short-answer text questions are not displayed.

Supplemental Material

Background

This product lists the questions asked and the summary results from two GAO sample surveys: one of U.S. depository institutions filing at least 120 Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) in 2006, and another of all state and local law enforcement agencies authorized to access CTR data through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network�s (FinCEN) Gateway Program as of May 2007.

The Web-based survey of compliance officers or other officials of U.S. depository institutions asked questions about each institution�s experience filing CTRs, the use of exemptions from CTR filing, and opinions on possible changes to the CTR filing process.

This survey was administered to a random sample of 680 depository institutions, stratified by asset size and institution type, drawn from the eligible population of 3,880 banks and credit unions filing more than 120 CTRs in 2006. Usable responses were received from 469 institutions, for a response rate of 68 percent. The actual number of responses to individual questions may vary, however, depending on the number of institutions eligible to answer a particular question and the number actually providing a response. Because these percentages are subject to sampling error, each of the estimates from this survey is accompanied by a 95 percent confidence interval, which indicates the range we would expect to include the actual population value in 95 percent of the samples we could have drawn.

Names and e-mail addresses for officials at sampled institutions were obtained from the institutions' respective regulators. GAO began this survey in September 2007 by e-mailing unique survey ID numbers and passwords; followed up with nonrespondents by e-mail and telephone; and closed the survey in October 2007.

The Web-based survey of state and local law enforcement agencies asked questions about each agency�s use of CTRs, views on the usefulness of CTRs, and opinions on possible changes to CTR filing requirements.

This survey was administered to all 115 state and local agencies that had access to CTR data through the Gateway Program as of May 2007, according to FinCEN records. Usable responses were received from 89 agencies, for a response rate of 77 percent. As with the depository institution survey, the actual number of responses to individual questions may vary, depending on the number of agencies eligible to answer a particular question and the number actually providing a response. The number of actual responses to each question is listed in the results along with the percentage of that number choosing each answer category. Because this survey was administered to all known members of the population, its estimates are not subject to sampling error. However, the practical difficulties of conducting any survey may introduce other non-sampling errors.

Names and e-mail addresses for the Gateway contacts were obtained from FinCEN. GAO began this survey in July 2007 by e-mailing unique survey ID numbers and passwords; followed up with nonrespondents by e-mail and telephone; and closed the survey in August 2007.

While the wording of the questions in this e-supplement is nearly identical to the Web survey questionnaires that we administered, not all introductory or instruction text is reproduced, and for ease of presentation the formats of the actual questionnaires differ from what is represented here. Answers to short-answer text questions are not displayed.

We conducted all of our work in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. A more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology, and a discussion of our results, is contained in our report Bank Secrecy Act: Increased Use of Exemption Provisions Could Reduce Currency Transaction Reporting While Maintaining Usefulness to Law Enforcement Efforts, GAO-08-355 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 21, 2008).


Instructions for Viewing the Surveys

How to View The Surveys

  • We present the results of two surveys: (1) Survey about Filing and Exemption Process for CTRs and (2) Survey of CTR Gateway Users.
  • Click on the "Selecting a Survey to View Survey Results" link located in the lower right of this screen to make your selection. To read to the bottom of the screen, you may need to use your scroll bar on the right side of this screen.
  • Once you have selected a survey, the next screen in each of the surveys is an introduction and general information that was sent to and viewed by recipients of the survey. There are no survey results to view on this screen. This screen is for information only and you may by-pass it by clicking on Next located at the bottom of the screen in the lower right.
  • The survey may have links to allow respondents to bypass inapplicable questions (skip patterns). While these were active links during the data collection period, they have now been disabled.

How to View the Responses for Each Question

  • To view the responses to each question, click on the question number (Links to survey questions will look like this: 1., etc.).
  • After viewing the responses to each question, click on the "x" in the upper right corner of your screen to close that window and return to the questionnaire.

How to Return to a Page That You Previously Visited

  • To return to the last screen you viewed, click the Previous button on the lower right corner of the screen.
  • Click the Next button to advance to the next screen.

How to Make the Font Larger on Your Screen

  • You can make the font larger by changing your browser setting. For example, on Internet Explorer you can change the font size by going to View and selecting Text Size.
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