How a SAR comes about
Most SARs begin with a monitoring alert or staff referral. An analyst closes it with a documented rationale or, if the activity is unusual for that customer, escalates it to an investigation. A SAR must generally be filed within 30 days of the institution first detecting the facts that may require one.
What a SAR contains
A SAR identifies the subjects, accounts and transactions involved and includes a narrative explaining who did what, when, where and why the activity is suspicious. The narrative takes longest to write and matters most, because it is what law enforcement reads.
Where the work is
Monitoring systems produce far more alerts than filings, and every alert must be reviewed and documented whatever its outcome. An anti-money laundering program's cost therefore sits largely in alert review and narrative writing.
Where automation helps
AI can gather each alert's evidence and draft the rationale or narrative for an investigator to edit, linking every statement to its source. Investigators and the BSA officer still decide whether to close, escalate or file, and SAR confidentiality rules bind the system too.