News
U.S. and European Financial Institutions Chafe Under Iran Restrictions
By Brian Orsak
printThe most recent U.S. economic sanctions against Iran have become particularly burdensome to American and European financial institutions because they require freezing, or blocking transactions for large, government controlled entities, compliance professionals say. U.S. restrictions on transactions that benefit Iran's government have long been in place, but sanctions issued in October to stem the country's purported nuclear ambitions marked the harshest steps taken in more than a decade against the Islamic theocracy. Under those rules, banks in the U.S. must freeze the assets of Iranian businesses, including four banks and the country's elite military unit, the Revolutionary Guard. In cases...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Thursday unanimously approved a measure that would penalize foreign banks that offer financial services to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Shiite militant group.
U.S. officials Tuesday charged a blacklisted Chinese national with using shell companies to maintain accounts at American banks and offered five million dollars for information on his whereabouts.
The financial clearing subsidiary of Deutsche Börse AG will pay the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions enforcer $152 million for holding money in New York-based accounts on behalf of Iran's central bank.
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.
The chairman of a Senate committee vowed Thursday to block additional sanctions against Iran in an effort to protect last month's multilateral accord to suspend portions of the country's nuclear program.
Western financial institutions won't radically amend their sanctions controls in response to an agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for a relaxation of banking restrictions, say former officials.
Despite tightened controls on interbank messaging, some bankers looking to hide the role of their blacklisted clients in international wires need only type a single key on their keyboard, according to experts.
Federal officials will weigh whether financial institutions can bank medical marijuana shops, New York's financial regulators asks two financial consultancies for data and more, in this week's news roundup.
Germany's BaFin is reportedly investigating potential AML violations by Deutsche Bank, a U.K. court could order the British government to pay millions to compensate a blacklisted Iranian bank, and more, in this midweek roundup.
The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday approved legislation that would limit White House-granted waivers to nations that purchase oil from Iran under a 2011 sanctions law.
Growing economic and political ties between Argentina and Iran are prompting some bank compliance officers to look more closely at their clients in the South American nation, say industry professionals.
The OECD says Portugal needs to better enforce its anti-bribery laws, the U.S. Treasury Department voices concerns about Iranian investments in Georgia, and more, in this week's news roundup.
The United States should more frequently blacklist foreign financial institutions that flout American sanctions barring Iranian oil sales, a lawmaker said Tuesday.
The White House Monday approved new powers to stifle the use of Iran's currency, impose financial restrictions on the country's automotive sector and blacklist those who support U.S. sanctions designees.
High-profile sanctions cases are spurring large banks and third-party software vendors to improve how they identify when counterparts and clients secretly act on behalf of blacklisted entities, say compliance experts.
A U.S. official's threat last month of economic sanctions against four Chinese banks is likely to be toothless given economic and enforcement hurdles, say sanctions analysts.
Additional banking and trade restrictions that target the finance and supply of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs were passed by the U.N. Security Council Wednesday.
The U.S. Senate banking committee approved a bill that would ratchet up economic pressure on Iran and increase the budgets of two government agencies that enforce sanctions and counter-terrorist financing regulations.
The U.N. Security Council voted a third round of sanctions against Iran over its alleged ambitions to develop nuclear weapons. Fourteen of the 15 members of the Security Council supported a measure calling for tighter monitoring of Iranian financial institutions, travel bans, and cargo inspections.
Economic sanctions targeting Iran for its pursuit of nuclear weapons might not be achieving U.S. objectives and should be reconsidered, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in an audit report.