The U.S. Treasury Department Thursday blacklisted a Moscow-based financial institution and its chairman for their alleged roles in facilitating transactions for the Central Bank of Syria and a state-owned oil company.
U.S. officials have no plans to negotiate Russia's compliance with an anti-tax evasion law that takes effect this summer and could impose stiff monetary penalties on nonparticipating financial institutions.
Ukraine must improve its efforts to fight corruption and curtail money laundering by political figures and others as part of a $17 billion bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
U.S. sanctions against 17 Russian individuals and companies, including three banks and the head of one of the nation's largest energy companies, will raise more questions than answers for compliance officers.
Although sanctions on Russian nationals and companies might seem fairly innocuous at first blush, compliance departments at European banks are finding the task of identifying designees unusually difficult, say legal experts.
In announcing sanctions against Russian politicians and one bank Thursday, U.S. officials made clear that American financial institutions should prepare for more, and soon.
Diplomatic tension over Ukraine has raised doubts that the United States will attend an upcoming Moscow plenary of the world's largest anti-money laundering task force, say current and former officials.
International banks are bracing for economic sanctions against Russian officials beyond those announced Monday by Western nations, according to compliance officers.
As the Obama administration weighs punitive measures against Russia, part of its calculus will be the degree to which Russian officials can undermine U.S. national interests, including sanctions against Iran.
The Obama administration is "actively" considering designating Russians linked to the invasion of Ukraine under a 2012 human rights law, according to a U.S. State Department official.
Anti-money laundering enforcement actions against financial institutions issued by the Central Bank of Russia have sky rocketed over the past two years. What's up with that?
The Ukrainian government is likely to pass anti-money laundering legislation in 2010 to avoid inclusion on an international blacklist, but will do little to enforce the laws, according to analysts.
Ukraine's legal efforts to curb the funding of terrorism, including the prosecutions of terror financiers, fall short of international standards, a European anti-money laundering watchdog group said Monday.