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As US Blacklists Grow, Banks Conduct In-Depth Sanctions Audits to Avoid Greater Costs
By Brian Monroe
printAfter a busy year for federal sanctions officials, large banks with international footprints are increasingly instituting deeper, standalone audits of their related policies and procedures, say compliance officers and consultants. Banks are doing the separate reviews in response to the growth of economic sanctions regimes, a jump in the number of entities blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and increasingly aggressive enforcement by federal and state regulators-all of which has been noted by financial institutions over the past year, they say. The OFAC compliance program, including audits, has "taken on a life of its...
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U.S. House lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly approved banking sanctions against Russian officials allegedly linked to the detention and death of a Moscow attorney who uncovered tax fraud and official corruption.
EU sanctions imposed against Iran earlier this month will likely further sever the Persian nation's few remaining ties to the continent's financial sector, including trade finance deals, say industry consultants.
New U.S. Treasury Department banking restrictions designed to hamstring Iran's nuclear program will curtail personal remittances and the ability to receive payments for licensed exports to the country, say analysts.
U.S. sanctions against an international gang with thousands of American members will challenge compliance officers of small and midsize banks, say attorneys and former government officials.
The New York banking regulator that imposed an unprecedented $340 million penalty on a London-based bank this month is likely to be equally tough on six other foreign banks identified as being the subject of similar investigations, say current and former government officials.
The number of federal anti-money laundering enforcement actions issued in the first half of 2012 fell by 35 percent in comparison to the total levied during the same period last year, data shows.
An American sanctions law passed in December is raising compliance concerns at banks involved in energy sector deals, despite U.S. waivers permitting related transactions, say attorneys and bank officials.
An Iranian bank's legal challenge to British and EU sanctions is an issue of "public importance" meriting the consideration of additional justices, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The United States exempted China and Singapore Thursday from Iran sanctions passed in December to pressure foreign central banks to suspend Iranian oil purchases.
Representatives of the world's primary financial messaging platform are lobbying U.S. lawmakers to abstain from blacklisting additional Iranian banks in future and pending legislation, say congressional sources.
The United States exempted seven nations Monday from sanctions against Iran signed into law in December after the jurisdictions curbed their purchases of oil from the Persian country.
A House panel Thursday advanced sanctions legislation that would blacklist individuals deemed responsible for the detention and death of a Moscow attorney who uncovered an alleged tax fraud scheme.
U.S. financial institutions must freeze any account and block any payment linked to the Syria Islamic International Bank (SIIB), the U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday.
Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress this week mulled imposing new financial and energy-related sanctions against Iran ahead of planned negotiations with Iranian officials later this month.
A federal appeals court could rule within weeks on whether an exiled Iranian opposition group should be removed from a sanctions list maintained by the U.S. State Department.
U.S. lawmakers will likely move to strengthen restrictions on correspondent accounts in the reconciled version of an Iran sanctions bill expected to pass the Senate by June, say congressional sources.
American sanctions enforcers will "primarily" focus in coming months on blacklisting Chinese firms that buy and resell defense industry or dual-use goods to Iran, a U.S. Justice Department official said Wednesday.
An executive order signed Sunday to implement new banking sanctions against Iran doesnt clarify the extent to which U.S. financial institutions must peel back transactions to discover potential links to Iran.
The authors of a U.S. embargo against Iran's central bank and petroleum industry called on the White House Thursday to be strict with foreign financial institutions under the law's statutes.
A planned regulatory overhaul, economic sanctions against Iran and the enforcement of anti-bribery rules will be among the biggest issues British financial institutions contend with in 2012, say experts.