The Bank Secrecy Act (12 USC 1951, 31 USC 5311, 31 CFR 1010, 31 CFR 1020) was originally passed by the U.S. Congress in 1970, and amended several times since then, including provisions in title III of the USA PATRIOT Act. The BSA is sometimes referred to as the anti-money laundering (AML) law or jointly as “BSA/AML”. The act requires financial institutions in the United States to assist U.S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering. Specifically, the act requires financial institutions to keep records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments, and file reports of cash purchases of these negotiable instruments of $10,000 or more (daily aggregate amount), and to report suspicious activity that might signify financial fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, or other criminal activities. Many banks will no longer sell negotiable instruments when they are purchased with cash, requiring the purchase to be withdrawn from an account at that institution.

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