U.S. officials Thursday blacklisted four Damascus banks and eight other entities under a series of executive orders targeting Syrian human rights violators and others tied to the Bashar al-Assad government.
The Senate's Foreign Relations Committee passed legislation Tuesday that would allow the White House to impose sanctions on entities that provide petroleum products or military assistance to Syria's government.
The emergence of jihadist units fighting in Syria against forces loyal to the government poses an immense challenge for banks utilizing U.S. Treasury Department licenses in the country, say sanctions experts.
Publicity over the expected disclosure of private banking data on 2,000 prominent clients of Bank Julius Baer and at least two other financial institutions could spur tax authorities to act more quickly on information they already have.
The release of hundreds of U.S. State Department cables as part of a massive leak of sensitive diplomatic communiqués is likely to prompt bank compliance departments to tweak risk rankings.
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