FinMin streamlines format for reporting suspect transactions

Under pressure to unearth black money, the Finance Ministry has modified the format for reporting suspicious transactions to help enforcement and regulatory agencies take prompt action to deal with the menace.

The new reporting formats, Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs), Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs) and Non-Profit Organisation Transaction Reports (NTRs) -- were introduced after the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) recently operationalised its ambitious 'intelligence network', a project sanctioned in 2006.

The launch of the network comes at a time when civil society has stepped up pressure on the government to unearth black money and it has introduced various measures to crack down on financial scams, frauds and large-scale tax evasions.

"The earlier prescribed multiple data files reporting format is being replaced by a new XML file format," a senior Finance Ministry official said.

"Three new formats, account-based reporting format and transaction-based reporting format for filing STRs, CTRs and NTRs and a separate reporting format to file CCRs, have been introduced and notified to RBI, Sebi and Irda and other such entities," the official said.

The new network, called FINnet (Financial Intelligence Network), is a technology-based secure platform for bringing together investigative and enforcement agencies to collect, analyse and disseminate valuable financial information for combating money laundering and related crimes.