How to evaluate Suspicious Transaction/Activity Notification (STR/SAR) On report desk In Compliance Planet Anti Money Laundering/Core Banking Finance Software

 In this section, you will learn how to review and give final approval for each report type, but first, here is how to locate a pending report irrespective of its report type (STR or SAR).

STEP 1: From the left hand side menu, click on “NFIU STR/SAR Report”. See this feature in fig. 6.5a below.

(fig. 6.5a)

➔ Clicking on NFIU STR/SAR Report will display a page as in fig. 6.5b below.

(fig. 6.5b)

➔ The notification(s) highlighted “RED” indicates that it  has not been viewed by anyone on the Reporting desk.

➔ The notification(s)  highlighted “GREEN” indicates that it  has been viewed by you alone.

➔ The notification(s)  highlighted “WHITE” indicates that it  has been viewed by you and at least one other Reporting officer(s)

➔ The notification(s) highlighted “BLUE” indicates that it  has been viewed by other Reporting officer(s) excluding you

You can increase the number of notifications you want to see per page by clicking on the ENTRIES box. Pick any number of entries per page of your choice. See fig. 6.5c below for an example.

(fig. 6.5c)

STEP 2: You can sort the notifications by clicking on any of the column header, either by alphabetical order or from the latest to the earliest notifications or vice-versa. This step is optional. See fig. 6.5d for an example.

(Fig. 6.5d)

STEP 3: Click on the VIEW box to see notifications classified according to the stage of processing they have gotten to. See fig. 6.5e for the classes of notifications available to a reporting officer’s view. Select any of them.

(fig. 6.5e)

As seen in fig. 6.5e above, the classes are;

1. Reporting Officer Pending Notification(s); these are STR/SAR notifications that have been reviewed and approved by a revision officer and/or supervising officer but they have not been treated by the reporting officer. This is the default view of the reporting officer

2. Reporting Officer Approved Notification(s); these are STR/SAR notifications that have been treated and approved by reporting officer. Once a notification is approved by reporting officer, it joins the Approved Notification(s) Pending Download list.

3. Reporting Officer Rejected Notification(s); these are STR/SAR notifications that are not satisfactory to the reporting officer. When a notification is rejected by the reporting officer, the supervision officer will get a mail notification to revisit the notification and send again if need be.

4. Approved Notification(s) Pending Download; these are STR/SAR notifications that have been treated and approved by all officers and await download.

5. Approved Notification(s) Downloaded; these are STR/SAR notifications that have been downloaded.

STEP 4: After selecting the class of Notification(s) from the VIEW box, click on ‘VIEW REPORT(S)’ to see the notification(s). This button is at the top-right corner of the page just as it was in the pages for the other desks. See fig. 6.5f for an example.

(fig. 6.5f)

➔ Also, you can search for a particular notification by typing the customer name or account number concerned in the search box.  See fig. 6.5g below for an example of a search.

(fig. 6.5g)

➔

• Also, at the bottom-right corner of the page, the software gives information about the number of pages, with the page numbers written out. All the page numbers represent buttons to go to each page. By clicking on any page number, the software takes you to that page. There is the ‘NEXT’ button to take you to the next page when you click on it and there is the ‘PREVIOUS’ button to take you to the page before the current page. See these features in fig. 6.5g above.
• From fig. 6.5b, 6.5c, 6.5d, 6.5e, 6.5f and 6.5g above, it can be seen that the NFIU STR report page reveals information about the notifier, the date of notification, the reported account number, the reported account name and the report type. The report type column specifies if the Notification is a suspicious transaction or a suspicious action. As stated earlier, the treatment of Notifications differs according to their report type. Now, that you already know how to locate Notifications for final review and approval on the reporting desk, here is how to treat each report type.

A. EVALUATING AND APPROVING A SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION (STR)

This section provides a guide on how to review and approve a suspicious transaction. The STR notification awaiting final approval are in the ‘REPORTING OFFICER PENDING NOTIFICATION(S)’ list.

NOTE: You have to be profiled as a report evaluation officer on report desk with rights to EDIT to be able to carry out this operation.

STEP 1: Select ‘REPORTING OFFICER PENDING REPORT(S)’ from the VIEW box as shown in fig. 6.5h below.

(fig. 6.5h)

STEP 2: Click on VIEW REPORTS. This will display Notifications awaiting final approval.  See the cursor clicking on this button and the Notifications in fig. 6.5i below.

(fig. 6.5i)

STEP 3: Select the STR to be treated by clicking on the ’DETAILS’ button at the end of the notification row. See the cursor clicking on the button in fig. 6.5j below.

(fig. 6.5j)

➔ By clicking on ‘DETAILS’, a console titled, ‘STR/SAR Pending Final Approval’, will be displayed. See fig. 6.5k below for an example of the STR final approval console.

(Fig. 6.5k)

➔ This console reveals information about the revising officer and the supervising officer with their comments and actions. The final approval console for STRs has two features the console for SARs does not have. These are;

1. Scanning and adding details of transactions related to a suspicious transaction in the report to be generated.

2. Previewing the tagged related STR transactions.

STEP 4: Enter reason to decline(If any) based on your observation. This step is mandatory if you want to reject the notification. Check out fig. 6.5l below for an example.

(Fig. 6.5l)

STEP 5: Click on ‘SCAN AND INCLUDE STR RELATED TRANSACTION’ to add STR related transaction(s) to the report to be generated. This is the dark-blue button at the bottom area of the console. Adding details of related STR transactions will make your notification comprehensive and well detailed.. Clicking on this button will bring up another console on which you are to input the details of the related transaction. See fig. 6.5m below for an example of a scan console.

(fig. 6.5m)

➔ Follow the instructions below to make use of a SCAN CONSOLE;

I. Enter the Account Number involved in the related transaction. This account number must exist in the account base.

II. Enter the transaction ID.

III. Click on the ‘Tran Type’ box to select the CTR/FTR Transaction type from a drop-down list as in fig. 6.5n below and set the transaction date from ‘Tran Date’ as seen in fig. 6.5o also.

(fig. 6.5n)

(fig. 6.5o)

➔ Here is how to make use of a calendar. Take a look at the arrows labelled a to d in fig. 6.5p to study the calendar;

a. Click on the given year to change it to your year of choice.

b. Click on the given month to change it to your month of choice.

c. Click on the date of the month.

d. You can also click on the angle brackets on the calendar [ ‘’ ] to go backward or forward.

IV. Enter the amount involved in the related transaction.

V. Input the ‘narration’ of the related transaction.

VI. Click on ‘START SCAN’ for planet to scan and include the transaction in the notification. See the cursor pointing to this button in fig. 6.5q below.

➔ To clear all the details already entered in, click on ‘CLEAR SCREEN’. The planet will wipe off the details immediately.

➔ To close the scan console, click on ‘CANCEL’.

See fig. 6.5q below for an example of a console with already filled in details, ready for scanning.

(fig. 6.5q)

➔

• The software immediately starts a scan when you click on ‘Start Scan’. During the scan a notification will be displayed at the top of the page. See fig. 6.5r for an example.

(fig. 6.5r)

STEP 6: Click on ‘Preview STR Related Transaction(s)’ to see the related STR transactions you scanned earlier. This button is next to the ‘SCAN AND INCLUDE STR RELATED TRANSACTION’ button. See this feature in fig. 6.5l above. By clicking on the preview button, a table will be displayed right under the scan and preview button, listing the scanned STR related transaction(s) as in fig, 6.5s below.

(Fig. 6.5s)

➔ As seen in fig. 6.5s above, the table comes with features to delete the transaction from the STR, see the details of the transaction and details of the account involved.

1. To delete a scanned transaction from the report, click on ‘DISCARD’. See an example in fig. 6.5t below.

(fig. 6.5t)

2. To see the details of a transaction, click on ‘TRAN DETAILS’. This button is between the ‘discard button’ and the ‘Acc details’ button as seen in fig. 6.5u below.

(fig. 6.5u)

➔ By clicking on ‘TRAN DETAILS’, a console as in fig. 6.5v below will appear on screen, giving details about the scanned transaction.

(fig. 6.5v)

➔ You can also edit some of the transaction details. The details that can be changed are; source account number, source account name, source account bank code, destination account number, destination account name and destination bank code. To edit these details, click on ‘EDIT’. This button is on the title pane of the console. See the cursor clicking on the ‘EDIT’ button in fig. 6.5v above.

➔ Clicking on ‘EDIT’, a console with the aforementioned details will appear on screen as in fig. 6.5w below. Make the changes you want and click on ‘SAVE CHANGES’. See the cursor clicking on the button to save the changes made in fig. 6.5w.

(fig. 6.5w)

3. Click on ‘ACC DETAILS’ to see the details of the accounts involved in the scanned related transaction. See an example in fig. 6.5x below.

(fig. 6.5x)

➔ Clicking on the ‘ACC DETAILS’ button, a console will be displayed as in fig. 6.5y below. As seen below, this console gives details about both the source account and the destination account. These details cannot be edited. After viewing, click on the ‘DISMISS CONSOLE’ button at the bottom-right corner of the console.

(fig. 6.5y)

➔ You can scan and include as many transactions as you want to your suspicious transaction report.

STEP 7: Click on ‘ACCEPT’ to approve the STR or ‘REJECT’ if notification is unsatisfactory. A confirmation console will be displayed to confirm your selected option. See fig. 6.5z and 6.5aa to see examples of a confirmation console when you choose to ‘accept’ or ‘reject’ respectively. To proceed, click on CONFIRM and to cancel the action, click on CANCEL. Check that you are sure of your options before confirming your request to reject or accept the report because this step is irreversible.

B. EVALUATING AND APPROVING A SUSPICIOUS ACTION (SAR)

This section provides a guide on how to treat a suspicious action and give a final approval. The SAR notifications awaiting final approval are also in the ‘REPORTING OFFICER PENDING NOTIFICATION(S)’ list.

NOTE: You have to be profiled as a report evaluation officer on report desk with rights to EDIT to be able to carry out this operation.

STEP 1: Select ‘REPORTING OFFICER PENDING NOTIFICATION(S)’ from the VIEW box as shown in fig. 6.5ab below.

(fig. 6.5ab)

STEP 2: Click on VIEW REPORTS and notification(s) awaiting final approval will be displayed. See this  in fig. 6.5ac below.

(fig. 6.5ac)

STEP 3: Select the SAR to be treated by clicking on the ’DETAILS’ button at the end of the SAR notification row. See the cursor clicking on the button in fig. 6.5ad below.

(fig. 6.5ad)

➔ By clicking on ‘DETAILS’, a console titled, ‘STR/SAR Pending Final Approval’, will be displayed. See fig. 6.5ae below for an example of the SAR final approval console.

(fig. 6.5ae)

➔ From the example in fig. 6.5ae shown above, the final approval console for SARs shows information about action taken and the reason(s) for the notification, but is different from the console for a STR. This console has a feature for adding report person(s) to an SAR.

STEP 4: Enter any extra notes in the “reason to decline “box based on your observation. This step is mandatory if you want to reject the notification. Check out fig. 6.5af below for an example.

(fig. 6.5af)

STEP 5: Click on ‘ADD REPORT PERSON(S) TO SAR’ to add details of report person. Report person refers to the person that sent the SAR report. Clicking on this button will display a confirmation console. Fig. 6.5ag is an example of the console to input details of report person..

(fig. 6.5ag)

➔ Follow the instructions below to make use of the console seen in fig. 6.5ag.

I. Select the gender of report person by clicking on the ‘Gender’ box.

II. Enter the title of report person

III. Enter the first name of report person

IV. Enter the middle name of report person

V. Enter the last name of report person

VI. Click on ‘SAVE’. To close the console, click on CANCEL.

See fig. 6.5ah for an example of a console with details ready to save

(fig. 6.5ah)

➔ The software  will add the new information you have added right under the ‘ADD REPORT PERSONS TO SAR’ button just as in fig. 6.5ai below. Click on ‘ADD REPORT PERSONS TO SAR’ to add more persons.

(fig. 6.5ai)

➔ As shown in fig. 6.5ai above, there are two buttons at the end of the row for each report person. These are; ‘EDIT’ button and ‘DELETE’ button. To change the details for a report person, click on ‘EDIT’ and the console just as in fig. 6.5ah above will be displayed. Make the changes and click on save. To remove a report person from a SAR, click on ‘DELETE’.

STEP 6: Click on ‘ACCEPT’ to give final approval or ‘REJECT’ to disapprove the notification. A confirmation console will be displayed to confirm your selected action. See fig. 6.5aj and 6.5ak to see examples of a confirmation console when you choose to ‘accept’ or ‘reject’ respectively. To proceed, click on ‘CONFIRM’ and to cancel the action, click on ‘CANCEL’. Check that you are sure of your options before confirming your request to accept or reject the report because this step is irreversible.

(fig. 6.5aj)

(fig. 6.5ak)