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Foreign Banks Consider ‘Ring-Fencing’ US Employees to Pursue Iranian Business
By Colby Adams
printSeveral financial institutions in the European Union and Asia are "ring-fencing" their American employees and taking other preliminary steps to reengage with Iran months after economic sanctions were eased under a global nuclear accord. The measures show that the challenge of ensuring that trade and transactions with Iran comply with remaining U.S. sanctions has, in some ways, become more difficult since January, when the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions lifted or suspended nuclear-related restrictions against the country's banks and businesses under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Rather than risk violating U.S. restrictions...
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The nuclear accord reached last year between five Western nations and Iran has done more than stir hopes and fears about the Islamic republic's return to global markets. For U.S. sanctions experts, the deal has also created a mountain of work, according to a former Treasury Department official.
A Congressional committee on Thursday approved a measure that would require the U.S. Treasury Department to collect data on the assets of Iranian leaders held in the United States and abroad.
Several U.S. banks are rejecting or blocking transactions involving dozens of entities removed from Western blacklists in January over concerns that the parties may have ties to the Iranian government.
A regional anti-money laundering group will formally grant Iran observer status in June following the nations adoption of a counterterrorist financing law last month, according to an Iranian official.
Iran's recent steps to bolster its controls against money laundering and terrorist financing have resulted in few returns from wary global financial institutions, the country's top banking regulator said Friday.
Iran's historic reentry into global markets Saturday came with expected fanfare and protest, and few surprises. Least surprising of all, the implementation of the sanctions accord means that the toughest work for banks could lie ahead.
The expected reemergence of Iran on global markets will likely pose the toughest challenge for sanctions compliance officers in the coming year, according to Alexandre Lamy, an attorney with Baker & McKenzie's International Trade Practice Group.
Iran is in talks to begin working with an intergovernmental financial-crime watchdog as the country prepares for a potential rollback of international sanctions, an official with the organization said.
An accord between Iran and six nations expected to result in the broad suspension of sanctions against the Islamic republic will likely bring questions along with opportunities for banks.
European companies may be lining up at the gate to do business with Iran in the event of a sanctions rollback but don't expect the continent's banks to go rushing in anytime soon.
Even with limited sanctions relief from the United States, foreign banks have been reluctant to process transactions for Iran under the terms of a newly-extended multilateral accord, an American official said Tuesday.
As early as Monday, banks will be able to do what has become seemingly unthinkable in the sanctions compliance field during recent years: ramp up their ties to Iran.