Banks often filed suspicious activity reports only after a transaction or customer became the subject of a negative news report or a government probe, when the funds are long gone, ICIJ says, citing the documents. Standard Chartered, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Barclays Plc were other lenders that flagged more than US$20 billion of suspicious activity in the files obtained by ICIJ. A spokesman for Bank of New York said the firm "takes its role in protecting the integrity of the global financial system seriously, including filing Suspicious Activity Reports."