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.
As U.S. officials and bankers debate the merits and drawbacks of an expected $10 billion sanctions settlement with BNP Paribas, their French counterparts are offering a more unified response: outrage.
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 West's financial ties to Russia have given countries pause in considering further sanctions, a Roman judge dropped a money laundering case against the former head of the Vatican Bank and more, in this week's news roundup.
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.
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.
Amid all of the political rhetoric and bombast that accompanied television coverage of the 16-day government shutdown last month, one question never seemed to get any airtime: what did it all mean for the financial compliance industry?
Foreign financial institutions and other non-U.S. companies newly tasked with disclosing when their affiliates deal with Iranian government officials are finding the requirements onerous, according to compliance officers and consultants.
The government of Iran and banks under its influence are increasingly using investments in foreign financial institutions as a means to circumvent sanctions, including restrictions on interbank messages, say sources.
U.S. lawmakers and the White House are negotiating language in a defense budgetary bill that would potentially penalize foreign banks for not complying with American sanctions against Iran, according to a congressional source.
American sanctions enforcers will "primarily" focus in coming months on blacklisting Chinese firms that buy and resell defense industry or dual-use goods to Iran, a U.S. Justice Department official said Wednesday.
The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday overwhelmingly approved bills that would restrict loans and interbank transfers of credit involving entities that facilitate Iran's petroleum and weapons trade.
U.S. senators Monday approved a reconciled defense appropriations bill that would sanction Iran's central bank, making only a single nod to White House concerns that the bill would displease trade partners.
The U.K.'s latest economic sanctions against Iran will likely cost banks proceeds from dropped trade finance deals in addition to new compliance expenses, according to attorneys and officials at British financial institutions.
The U.S. Treasury Department will designate Iran a "primary money laundering concern" on Monday, according to published reports.
The U.S. Treasury Department Monday proposed designating Iran as a "primary money laundering concern" and requiring banks to end correspondent relationships with foreign institutions that transact for Iranians.
U.S. lawmakers Tuesday again heard recommendations on how to broaden economic sanctions against Iran, including possibly targeting Chinese gasoline traders and energy sector front companies.