A recent court ruling that disallowed the freezing of an Islamic charity's assets could signal a major change in how the United States sanctions suspected terrorist financiers, say former investigators.
Compliance officers at some of the world's largest financial institutions are concluding they need to create sanctions-specific programs to avoid regulatory penalties and tarnished reputations, according to a Deloitte survey released Monday.
An EU decision Thursday to strike down a United Nations terror designation will mean more legal challenges by organizations accused of terror ties, say analysts.
Five of the 15 European Union countries chastised by the EU Commission for not adopting anti-money laundering directives quickly enough could have those issues resolved by the end of the year, according to compliance consultants.
The European Union Internal Market Commission sent 15 countries letters threatening "expeditious legal action" if they didn't transpose the EU's Third Money Laundering Directive into law after missing a December 2007 deadline. But none of the countries are racing to comply, consultants say.
As sanctions lists have grown exponentially, individuals and groups who have been named have challenged the process with varying degrees of success. For example, removals from lists maintained by the United States are few and far between, experts say.
print