Commerzbank will pay fines as part of a global settlement with a number of US authorities in relation to an investigation of alleged breaches of US sanctions regulations relating to Iran, Sudan, Burma and Cuba, Commerzbank will pay:  – US$258.7m to the US Treasury’s Department of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to settle […]

Commerzbank AG has agreed to pay a total of $1.45 billion in penalties to state and federal authorities to settle violations of sanctions imposed on countries such as Iran and Sudan by the United States. Commerzbank was accused of moving $263 million through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Iranian and Sudanese entities, and […]

On Monday, 9 March 2015, President Obama signed an executive order http://1.usa.gov/1E6wwUE declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat to US national security and foreign policy posed by “the Government of Venezuela’s erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, use of violence and human rights violations and abuses […]

On 17 February 2015 the Central Bank of Ireland published a report of its observations in relation to AML/CFT and financial sanctions compliance. The report deals with the Irish banking sector, but the issues identified by the Central Bank will be familiar to compliance professionals working throughout the world and it is useful reading for […]

Over recent months, international 
sanctions and export controls have 
featured heavily in the news; the recent escalation of tension in the Korean peninsula, the ongoing conflict in Syria
and Iran’s continued attempts to develop nuclear weapons are all examples of international situations where sanctions or trade controls are in force. Even 
though these are examples that […]

Draft of UN report shows U.S., Ireland responded to UN inquiries over sanctions breach Dennis Rodman and betting company Paddy Power appear to have escaped punishment following charges they breached UN sanctions prohibiting the transfer of luxury goods to North Korea, a draft of a forthcoming UN Panel of Experts (PoE) report shows. The former […]

The following provides an overview of (a) yesterday’s addition of new names to the list of persons and entities subject to the asset freeze and travel ban; (b) clarification on the grandfathering of pre-existing contracts in relation to restricted tourism activities in Crimea and Sevastopol; and (c) some points of interest arising from the recent […]

In recent times, there has been a marked increase in the use of co-ordinated economic sanctions by the European Union, the United Nations and individual states against rogue states and organisations and, on a targeted basis, against specific individuals and entities related to those rogue states and organisations. The number of countries which are the […]