Number of SARs received relating to COVID loans
COVID-related money laundering opportunities
| Number of SARs | 2020 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | Relative | |
| Total number of SARs | 5334 | 100,0 % |
| Reports processed | 4505 | 84,5 % |
| Unprocessed reports as at 31 December 2020 | 829 | 15,5 % |
| Number of business relationships | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 9601 | 7705 |
On 25 March 2020, the Ordinance on COVID Loans came into force. By the end of 2020, the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) at fedpol had received 1,046 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in connection with the granting of COVID loans.
Since 1 January 2020, MROS has been operating goAML, a system that can process SARs electronically. Several business relationships can now be assigned to one SAR. This way of recording SARs also affects the way they are counted. The 5,334 SARs received correspond to 9,601 reported business relationships. This is a 25% increase in reports to MROS over the previous year.
The number of reports of suspicious transactions is steadily increasing. Processing these reports in a timely manner presents a challenge for any money laundering reporting office. With its larger staff, and also by effectively triaging and digitalising incoming information, in 2020 MROS succeeded in clearing its backlog of cases from previous years. Now, there is no longer a mountain of pending cases to climb. Further statistics and information on MROS' activities can be found in the MROS annual report.