U.S. and European officials are developing a coordinated response to recent attacks on Ukrainian civilians and could announce additional sanctions against Russia as early as this week.
At its highest levels, Russian corruption over the past 20 years has been disguised by networks of shell companies and facilitated by foreign banks willing to turn a blind eye to state embezzlement, according to Karen Dawisha, a political science professor at Ohio-based Miami University.
This time last December, one might reasonably have expected that 2014 would be a year of modest changes for the anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance sector. Then came JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas and a convoy of Russian tanks to quash that notion.
Whatever the effectiveness of sanctions meant to sway Russia's involvement in Ukraine, one thing is certain: they've worsened the country's capital flight problem. By year's end, approximately $128 billion will have moved abroad, up from $63 billion in 2013, according to Russia's central bank.
Two new approaches to sanctions targeting Russia are unlikely to be the last innovations to how the United States leverages its financial power, even if such restrictions strain compliance departments.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would clear the way for sanctions against foreign banks that transact on behalf of Russia's defense and energy businesses.
The expansion of Western sanctions targeting Russia will require banks to closely vet additional types of credit and transactions tied to financial, energy and defense firms, according to attorneys.
Military clashes in Ukraine are complicating behind-the-scenes efforts by some EU nations to prevent new sanctions and roll back existing financial restrictions targeting Russia.
The U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday imposed its strongest sanctions to date in response to Russia's role in Ukrainian violence, blacklisting 12 companies in the federation's financial, energy and defense sectors.
U.S. officials are preparing to press their EU counterparts on stronger Russia sanctions ahead of a European Council meeting next week, State Department representatives told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday.
Threatened U.S. sanctions against large swathes of Russian businesses would likely target defense and financial firms ahead of energy companies if imposed, according to experts.
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.
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.
Plans by Russia to develop an independent payment network could limit the U.S. government's window into illicit finance in the federation, say analysts.
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs advanced amended legislation Tuesday that would require U.S. officials to report on banks linked to the embezzlement of Ukrainian assets.
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.