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Sanctions
The sanctions environment is getting more complex with every passing day. There are constant changes to sanctions lists. Banks need to follow multiple lists, and there are sometimes contradictions. It’s getting harder and more expensive to comply with international sanctions requirements.
​​Compliance with sanctions laws and regulations continues to be a major challenge for financial institutions, with many continuing to incur significant fines and reputational damage.
As a minimum, adequate sanctions screening processes and controls must be in place but importantly, organisations must be able to demonstrate that their controls are working effectively. These processes and controls may be different to those in place for money laundering purposes, because compliance with sanctions regulations means that you also need to consider to whom payments are being made and whether funds are from an entirely legitimate source.
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The number of global watch lists and sanctioned activities also continue to grow, as does pressure for financial institutions to extend their screening processes across their entire networks. In addition, sectoral sanctions, such as those targeting Russia and prohibiting certain types of transactions, complicate the task of distinguishing between approved and not-approved transactions. ​
Thanks to their extraterritorial reach and the dominance of the dollar as an international currency, US prosecutors and regulators can make things very hot for banks that participate in sanctions dodging.
Jonathan Guthrie
Financial Times
OpusDatum assist you in effectively and efficiently managing your sanction obligations by adopting a proportionate risk-based approach. Our services include:
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Design and implement comprehensive sanctions programme including frameworks, policies and standards to meet OFAC, OFSI and other regulatory requirements.
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Sanctions risk assessments.
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Independent reviews of procedures, systems and controls against current sanctions policies and standards.
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Enhance and uplift current sanctions policies, standards, procedures and controls.
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Benchmark sanctions controls against best practice.
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Alert investigation and OFSI reporting.
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Sanctions screening, including validation of screening systems.
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Sanctions circumvention detection.
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Optimisation of watchlists, rules and configuration.
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Remediation programmes in response to actual and suspected sanctions violations.
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Look-back reviews to identify root causes in relation to past sanctions breaches and near misses.
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Data analytics, including forensic analysis, investigations and advanced analytics.
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Sanctions training and awareness.