PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was fined $25 million after sanitizing a report to regulators on sanctions and money-laundering controls for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., New York’s top bank regulator said today. The bank persuaded PwC Regulatory Advisory Services to change a compliance report related to financial transactions with sanctioned countries including Iran and Sudan through March […]

In January 2014, the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US) agreed a six month suspension of EU and US sanctions against Iran as part of the Geneva Joint Plan of Action (the “JPoA”).  It was announced on 21 July 2014 that the JPoA will be extended until 24 November 2014 to […]

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has imposed several new Ukraine-related sanctions as of July 16, 2014. Significantly, the new sanctions impose restrictions on certain types of dealings by US persons with specified Russian energy, defense and financial services entities.  The EU has also announced new sectoral sanctions, as well as […]

The FCA has published a webpage with a list of countries considered high risk in relation to the FCA’s financial crime objectives, which are linked to tackling money laundering, sanctions systems and controls, terrorist financing, and bribery and corruption. The publication comes after the FCA was forced by a Freedom of Information Act request to release the […]

When Hassan Rouhani was sworn in as Iran’s president this time last year, he pledged to pursue detente with the international community and bring an end to years of deadlock over the country’s nuclear program, which would lift sanctions and help him rescue an economy in crisis. Twelve months on, a nuclear deal remains elusive […]

Six men subject to global travel ban and asset freeze United Nations: Responding to the growing terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Friday on six men for recruiting or financing foreign fighters, and threatened additional sanctions against those supporting terrorist groups. The UN’s most powerful body, in a […]

Budapest – The European Union has harmed itself economically with the sanctions it has imposed on Russia over Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, calling for a rethink. Orban’s remarks came a day after his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, criticised the sanctions as “meaningless”, saying they would threaten economic growth in the […]

Russia on Thursday banned most food imports from the West in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine — a sweeping move that will cost Western farmers billions of dollars but could also lead to empty shelves in Russian cities. The decision shows that President Vladimir Putin has no intention of bowing to Western pressure over Ukraine […]