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Sanctions Update: How to navigate the rapidly evolving sanctions landscape
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Sanctions Update: How to navigate the rapidly evolving sanctions landscape

In February 2023, the British government marked the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by issuing further sanctions against Russia.

In February 2023, the British government marked the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by issuing further sanctions against Russia.

Doubling down on efforts to cripple the Russian economy, and Putin’s ability to wage war on Ukraine, the Foreign Secretary announced a package of sanctions including export bans on every item Russia has used on the battlefield, import bans of iron and steel goods, 1,500 additional FCDO targets, and 92 individuals and entities (including 4 banks).

Indeed, the UK sanctions list now covers more than 1,551 of Russian’s most significant and high-value individuals and 180 corporate entities and subsidiaries, effectively shutting out huge sectors of the Russian Economy from international markets.

Complex, volatile, and rapidly evolving, the current global sanctions landscape, with its vast range of country-specific regulations, is a huge compliance challenge for financial institutions (FIs). In total, the latest sanctions list update covers 3,788 individuals and entities from 23 countries, plus specific sanctions lists covering ISIS and Al Qaeda, chemical weapons, counter terrorism, cyber, anti-corruption and human rights.

A complex geopolitical landscape

FIs are required to ensure that the individuals, entities, and subsidiaries they do business with are not subject to sanctions. However, achieving compliance and staying compliant is an incredibly complex process. Increasing regulatory scrutiny, as well as the inconsistent nature of global regimes, is putting intense pressure on FIs to raise the bar for sanctions compliance and awareness.

As part of customer due diligence, including know-your-customer (KYC) and know-your-business (KYB) checks, FIs need to be able to scrutinise their customer base to:

  • Offer support to Ukrainian businesses or companies with Ukrainian links
  • Improve awareness of companies with links to sanctioned countries, organisations, and individuals
  • Identify Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) from sanctioned countries and organisations
  • React quickly to regulatory change.

FullCircl has a number of tools to help

Take a look at our Russia-Ukraine guidance note covering:

In addition, we also provide:

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