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Proposed AML Updates for Credit Unions (2018)

Today’s guest blogger is Jonathan Krumins, Vice-President, AML Risk & Compliance, at vCAMLO Solutions Inc. vCAMLO provides anti money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) support to Canadian credit unions. You can learn more about vCAMLO at www.vcamlo.ca.

Background

On June 9, 2018, draft amendments to Canada’s AML regulations, including the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations (PCMLTFR) were published in the Canada Gazette.

These changes are not yet in force, and are open to public comment until September 9, 2018.

They will come into effect 12 months after the finalized amendments are published (date to be determined).

The proposed changes are based on requirements set out by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body that sets out international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as from certain amendments made to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) made through the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1 and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1.

From a practical standpoint, you should consider what changes will be required to your record keeping, reporting processes, and IT systems once the amendments come into effect, and what resources would be required. It would be prudent to discuss this with your board of directors as well. While it can be useful to start allocating resources (particularly if your IT systems need to be updated), it makes sense to wait until the final version of the changes has been published.

If you have thoughts on the proposed changes, you should consider submitting these either directly to the Ministry of Finance, or through your Credit Union Central.

Why Do These Changes Matter to Credit Unions?

The proposed changes will have a direct impact on a Credit Union’s AML obligations, including reporting, record keeping, and member identification. They will require additional training of staff, changes to record keeping and Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) reporting processes. They will likely require changes in your IT systems to ensure that all necessary information is available to be included in FINTRAC reports, particularly those involving online transactions.

FINTRAC Reporting

This round of changes to AML regulations has a much greater focus on reporting, including shorter a deadline for reporting STRs, changes to the contents of the reports themselves changes to calculation of 24 hour large cash reports, and the introduction of new reporting requirements for transactions involving virtual currencies such as bitcoin.

STR Filing

The proposed changes will shorten considerably the filing period for a Suspicious Transaction Report. The current filing deadline for STRs is within 30 days:

“after the day on which the person or entity or any of their employees or officers detects a fact respecting a financial transaction or an attempted financial transaction that constitutes reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction or attempted transaction is related to the commission of a money laundering offence or a terrorist activity financing offence.”

This will be changed to a new standard of 3 days:

“3 days after the day on which the reporting entity completes the analysis that establishes that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction was related to the commission of a money laundering or terrorist activity financing offence”

Report Contents

Many additional pieces of information will be required to be collected and submitted to FINTRAC. You should begin to evaluate where this information is stored (ex: banking system, other databases such as lending software, reports provided by your banking system provider or Credit Union Central, or paper file).

A comparison of current and proposed FINTRAC report fields can be found here: Download Table

These changes include information that was not previously required to be collected by credit unions, such as:

  • “Purpose of transaction” (for LCTRs),
  • “Purpose of electronic funds transfer” (for EFTRs), and
  • Source of cash or source of funds.

For transactions that are performed online, additional fields will be required in EFTRs and STRs:

  • Type of device used by person who makes request online,
  • Number that identifies device,
  • Internet Protocol address used by device [mandatory field],
  • Person’s user name, and
  • Date and time of person’s online session in which request is made [mandatory field].

Additional “Know Your Client” information will be required in all reports (if on file). A selection follows:

  • Personal accounts: reports will include fields for alias, e-mail address, and name, address and phone number for the member’s employer.
  • Business accounts: reports will include fields for type and number of document or information used to identify an entity, information respecting ownership, control and structure of the entity, name of each beneficial owner, name, address, e-mail address and phone number for each director.
  • Trust accounts: reports will include fields for name, address, e-mail address and phone number of each trustee, name and address of each settlor of trust, name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number of each beneficiary of trust.

The 24-Hour Rule

The formula for calculating 24 hour reports for Large Cash Transaction Reports is being changed. If you use software to automatically detect these types of transactions, you should begin discussions with your IT department or software provider to determine the time and resources that would be required to update the detection process.

Currently, a Large Cash Transaction Report must be submitted either for single transactions of $10,000 (or more) or for multiple transactions of less than $10,000 each that add up to $10,000 or more in a 24 hour period. This can result in situations where 2 reports are filed for transactions taking place in a 24 hour period.

For example:

 

Cash deposit of $12,000 cash – LCTR #1 for $12,000

Cash deposits of $5,000 and $6,000 cash – LCTR #2 for $11,000

The new calculation will consider all cash deposits that add up to $10,000 or more in a 24 hour period to be included in a single report.

 

Using the same example above, under the new rules we would have:

Cash deposits of $12,000, $5,000 and $6,000 – Single LCTR for $23,000

Virtual Currency Reporting

If you offer (or plan to offer) accounts that hold virtual currencies such as bitcoin, you will be required to report the receipt or the sending of amounts of $10,000 or more in a virtual currency to FINTRAC in two new report types; “Report with Respect to Receipt of Virtual Currency” and “Report with Respect to Transfer of Virtual Currency.”

Third Party Determinations

Similar to the existing requirement to conduct a Third Party Determination during an LCTR, you will need to make a similar determination when you are required to report an incoming Electronic Funds Transfer or Receipt of Virtual Currency.

If you have separate fraud and AML teams, it may be worth considering whether or not the AML team should alert the fraud team to third parties, particularly where these don’t make sense, or where it appears that your member may be a victim of fraud.

Training Program

The amended regulations have introduced a requirement to institute and document a plan for ongoing compliance training. This differs from the current requirement to develop and maintain a written training program.

In practice, this means that in addition to documenting all of the training that has already been completed, you will need to clearly document future training plans.

Risk Assessment Updates

One of the deficiencies identified in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review of Canada was not having a requirement to assess new technologies before their launch. A proposed amendment would require credit unions to assess the risk related to assess the risk of products and their delivery channels, as well as the risk associated with the use of new technologies, prior to their launch.

This has been a best practice since the requirement to conduct a risk assessment came into force, but this change would make this a formal requirement. This may require closer cooperation between compliance officers and other teams involved in the development of new products or services.

Identification Methods

The range of identification methods that can be used will be broadened. This is good news, especially for credit unions that are using non-face-to-face identification methods.

Currently, there is a requirement that when members are identified using the dual process method, the document and/or data that you collect is in its “original” format. This has been interpreted to mean that if the member receives a utility bill in the mail, they must send you the original paper (not scanned or copied) document. The word “original” will be replaced with “authentic” (meaning that so long as you believe that the utility bill is a real utility bill for that person, it doesn’t need to be the same piece of paper that they received in the mail).

In addition, there are provisions that would allow a credit union to rely on the identification conducted previously by other reporting entities. If this method is used to identify a member, the credit union must immediately obtain the identification information from the other reporting entity and have a written agreement in place requiring the entity doing the identification to provide the identification verification within 3 days of the request.

Public Comments

Public comments about the proposed changes will be accepted by the Ministry of Finance until September 9, 2018. They must be submitted in writing, as follows:

Attention: Lisa Pezzack

Director General, Financial Systems Division

Department of Finance

90 Elgin Street

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0G5

Email: fin.fc-cf.fin@canada.ca

If you have thoughts on the proposed changes, you should consider submitting these either directly to the Ministry of Finance, or through your Credit Union Central.

Need a Hand?

If you would like someone to look over your submission before you make comments to the Department of Finance, you can get in touch with us free of charge. We will look over your submission and make suggestions, without any cost to you. If you need a hand, please feel free to contact vCAMLO or Outlier.

 

Canada’s 2017 Budget & PCMLTFA Updates

Greetings fellow compliance geeks!

As you may know, Canada’s latest budget bill contains a number of amendments to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA). We’ve created a marked up version of the PCMLTFA to help you work through and understand the changes, and you can access it using the link below with this caveat: you are welcome to use and share this markup, but you may not charge money for access to it. Information should be free.

Yes, I get it, give me access!

If you prefer a copy of the markups in Microsoft Word, please contact us.

Analysis Notes

The biggest takeaway from these amendments is related to section 5 (e.1), which adds “trust companies incorporated or formed by or under a provincial Act that are not regulated by a provincial Act” as being federally regulated entities. This has been a loophole in Canadian legislation for a long time, and was called out in Canada’s most recent mutual evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). If you’re company falls into this category, it’s time to start thinking about anti money laundering (AML) compliance. If you have business arrangements (clients, suppliers, etc.) that are unregulated provincial trusts, there are a few early steps that you might want to consider:

  • Re-assess the AML risk that these provincial trust companies pose;
  • Reach out to ask if they have a Compliance Officer and an AML program (in some cases, you will be pleasantly surprised); and
  • Consider whether or not additional controls are required to mitigate the risk posed.

The additional information that’s changing includes a lot of items that most us would consider housekeeping, like changing foreign country to foreign state in a number of places, and adding bullet points to what is considered “prescribed information:”

  • the name, address, electronic mail address and telephone number of every trustee and every known beneficiary and settlor of a trust referred to in paragraph (a);
  • the name, address, electronic mail address and telephone number of each person who owns or controls, directly or indirectly, 25 % or more of an entity referred to in paragraph (a), other than a trust; and
  • information respecting the ownership, control and structure of an entity referred to in paragraph (a).

The only piece there that will be new (at least in terms of requirements) is the “electronic mail address” (email) for beneficial owners. If you’re not already collecting this information, it’s time to think about how to get started. If you’re collecting the email address, but its optional, consider making it a required field.

The modifications also give the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) the ability to share information with the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces where there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a threat. Presumably, this would include contexts like a terrorist attack on Canada. It’s somewhat surprising that this was not already in place.

There have also been changes to the things about which “the Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make any regulations that the Governor in Council considers necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act, including regulations…” These are interesting in thinking about what may be next in line for additional regulation:

  • respecting dealing in virtual currencies;
  • respecting the keeping of records referred to in section 6;
  • respecting the verification of the identity of persons and entities referred to in section 6.1; (d) respecting the reports to the Centre referred to in section 7 and subsections 7.1(1) and 9(1);
  • respecting the determination of whether a person is a person described in any of paragraphs 9.3(1)(a) to (c);
  • respecting the measures referred to in subsections 9.3(2) and (2.1);
  • respecting the measures referred to in subsection 9.4(1);
  • respecting the program referred to in subsection 9.6(1);
  • respecting the special measures referred to in subsection 9.6(3);
  • respecting the registration referred to in sections 11.1 to 11.2;
  • respecting the reports referred to in subsection 12(1); and
  • prescribing anything that by this Act is to be prescribed.

The only truly interesting point here is dealing in virtual currency, which also came up in Bill C-31 which passed in 2014. This bill, also called the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1, has not been fully implemented. Some of its provisions (including those specifically related to including dealing in virtual currency under the definition of money services businesses) are also being amended. In the markups, these changes are highlighted in blue rather than in yellow to distinguish between the two.

Finally, there is a change to the definition of a head of an international organization. This one seems a bit nitpicky to me, but if you’re in the process of updating your documentation for the changes that are coming into force in June of this year, you might want to consider this as well. Head of an international organization (HIO) means a person who, at a given time, holds — or has held within a prescribed period before that time — the office or position of head of an international organization that is established by the governments of states or the head of an institution of any such organization.

We’re Here To Help

If you have questions about these changes, the changes coming into force in June of this year, or AML compliance in general, please contact us.

FINTRAC’s 2016 Real Estate Brief

Quick Overview

A little over a month ago, FINTRAC published an operational brief for the Canadian real estate industry.  The brief was intended to assist reporting entities in meeting the obligations to report suspicious transactions or attempted suspicious transactions that related to potential money laundering or terrorist financing.  The publication provided some common indicators that may be present in a transaction that suggest money laundering or terrorist financing could be involved.

What Does it Mean?

The suspicious indicators provided by FINTRAC list circumstances or activities that might signal potentially illicit activity.  This does not mean that if one or more of the indicators are present that the transaction is definitely suspicious and must be reported to FINTRAC, it is meant to ensure that you are aware of the potential that suspicious activity may be taking place.  In that context, if you are involved in real estate transactions, you must be aware of the indicators in the brief.  If you do encounter a transaction that may be considered suspicious, you will need to collect additional information that will aid in your decision to report it or document why it was not considered suspicious.

What Now?

In order to ensure familiarity for anyone who interacts with customers and their transactions, the list of FINTRAC’s indicators should be included in your ongoing AML compliance training program.  Furthermore, the indicators should also be included in your procedure manuals, allowing easy access to the information.  Finally, the indicators should be incorporated into your Risk Assessment documentation.  Specifically, when determining customer risk and the controls used to effectively mitigate potential risks.

We’ve made it easier for you to integrate this content into your program by putting the indicators in a Word document for you.

Need a Hand?

Outlier has taken the list of indicators provided by FINTRAC and formatted them into an easy to use Microsoft Word document, which can be downloaded here: FINTRAC Indicators Specific to Real Estate Transactions.  This should allow companies within the real estate sector to easily update their documentation and ensure they are sufficiently monitoring for potentially suspicious activity.  If you aren’t sure what to do with this information and would like some assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Would You Recognize Real Estate Red Flags?

Rodney_FINTRACOn November 14th, 2016 FINTRAC released a brief for all reporting entities who may be involved in real estate transactions.  The briefing is intended as guidance to provide some examples of indicators that may be present in transactions that may suggest they are linked to money laundering or terrorist financing.  The indicators described have been taken from transactions suspected of being related to money laundering or terrorist financing reported internationally.  The briefing focuses on the potential risks and vulnerabilities within the real estate industry and provides suggestions on how to ensure reporting entities are sufficiently meeting suspicious transaction reporting obligations.

The briefing is meant to provide operational guidance given the small overall number of suspicious transactions that have been reported to FINTRAC by the Real Estate industry.  The briefing states that these indicators will be used by FINTRAC to assess compliance with your reporting obligations.  If you are a reporting entity that interacts with the real estate industry in one form or another, the indicators and scenarios outlined in this brief should be considered when updating your Risk Assessment and training materials.

To put things into perspective, though the actual size of the real estate market is difficult to determine precisely, CMHC has produced some statistics.  CMHC suggests that between 2003 and 2013 over $9 trillion of mortgage credits were negotiated and roughly 5 million sales took place through Multiple Listing Services (MLS).  In contrast, FINTRAC received only 127 Suspicious Transactions Reports (STRs) from real estate brokers, agents and developers and 152 by other types of reporting entities, such as banks and trust/loan companies.  To go a step further, in FINTRAC’s 2015 Annual Report, between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015, a total of 92,531 STRs were filed across all reporting entities.

 

re-strs-filed-vs-sales

This evidence supports FINTRAC’s assertion that operational guidance for the real estate industry is needed.

The indicators and examples covered in the brief outline numerous scenarios that may suggest that a transaction is related to a money laundering or terrorist financing offense.  It also speaks to how the appearance of legitimacy obfuscates the clarity of suspicious transactions and requires more than a just “gut feel”.  What is required is the consideration of the facts related to the transaction and their context.  Does the transaction with all the known factors, positive or negative, make sense?

 

What This Means to Your Business? 

First off, FINTRAC will be using the indicators provided to assess your compliance with reporting obligations.  This has a couple different applications.  The first being, does your AML compliance program documentation make reference to the suspicious indicators that are provided.  Basically, are staff aware of the elements that may be present in a transaction that would suggest money laundering or terrorist financing may be occurring?

Secondly, is there an oversight process to ensure if there are transactions that contain one or more of these indicators where an STR was not submitted, is reviewed?  If so, does the process ensure supporting evidence that the Compliance Officer reviewed the transaction and determined there were not reasonable grounds to suspect its relation to money laundering or terrorist financing?  When you encounter a transaction involving any of the indicators provided, it is very important that you collect as much information as possible to assist the Compliance Officer with their determination of whether there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction, or attempted transaction, may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing.  Alternatively, even if none of the indicators provided by FINTRAC are present but we still feel there is “something off” about our customer’s transaction, speak with your Compliance Officer.  They will be able to provide some insight on additional information that may assist our decision.  Once you have collected any additional information you may still not feel comfortable, but this does not mean you cannot complete the transaction, but that you must be sure your Compliance Officer is provided with all the information, which includes our reason for the escalation, so that they can decide whether there are reasonable grounds to suspect it may be related to a money laundering or terrorist financing offense.  The Compliance Officer will document their decision and, if necessary, submit an STR to FINTRAC.

Need a Hand?

If you are a reporting entity that interacts with the real estate industry and would like assistance updating your AML compliance program documentation or simply have some questions, please contact us.

Sanctions This Week: July 25th – 29th, 2016

 

OSFISanctions Pic

There were no updates released from OSFI this week.

Go to the OSFI lists page.

OFAC

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Branch, The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), released four updates last week.  One update was related to the publication of Cuba-related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), covering some of the recent changes made to the sanctions that had previously been placed on Cuba.  Other updates included the removal of 12 individuals from the Counter Terrorism Designations List, the issuance of a Finding of Violation and the publication of Iran General License J.

OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.  The sanctions target countries, regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the U.S.

The update to the Cuba-related FAQs was for the issuance of a new FAQ (#38) and a revision of an existing FAQ (#39), relating to certain information collection and recordkeeping requirements for persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction who provide authorized carrier or travel services to or from Cuba for specifically licensed travelers.

The update to the Counter Terrorism Designations List included the removal of 12 individuals of Libyan origin who are currently residing in the UK.

The Finding of Violation was issued to Compass Bank, which uses the trade name BBVA Compass, for violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations. From June 12, 2013 to June 3, 2014, Compass maintained accounts on behalf of two individuals on OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (the “SDN List”).

The final update of the week was related to OFAC issuing “General License J”, authorizing the re-exportation of certain civil aircraft to Iran on temporary sojourn and related transactions.

See the Cuba-related FAQ update on OFAC’s website.

See the Counter Terrorism Designations List update on OFAC’s website.

See the issuance of a Finding of Violation to Compass Bank on OFAC’s website.

See the Iran General License J details on OFAC’s website.

See OFAC’s recent actions page.

Need A Hand?

We would love to hear from you.  If there are subjects in this post that you would like to know more about, or if you need assistance with your compliance program, please contact us.

Redlined PCMLTFR Updates (June 2016)

Amber with laptop logo on screen 2On June 29, 2016 updates to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) & Terrorist Financing Regulations (PCMLTFR) were published in the Canada Gazette. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has also published updated guidance related to identification, and we expect more updated guidance in the coming weeks.

In order to make it easier for our friends, colleagues and customers to understand the changes, we have created a “redlined” version of the document that can be downloaded and used free of charge.

Our only stipulation for those that choose to use this document in any way is that we do not permit a fee to be charged for access to it, in whole or in part, via any medium… That’s a fancy way of saying that you can share it as much as you like, but you can’t charge money for it.

That said, we hope that this document saves you time and money – it’s the least we can do:

June 29 2016 PCMLTFR Updates Redlined

Need A Hand?

Changes will not come into effect until next year (2017). If you need assistance updating your anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program, please contact us.

 

Sanctions This Week: June 27th – July 1st, 2016

Sanctions Pic

OSFI

On June 27th, 2016, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released two updates to the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC’s) Al-Qaida and Taliban regulations sanctions list, amending 8 individuals and 1 entity.

The individuals are subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

All of the individuals are of different nationalities, but all have connections to Al-Qaida and French terrorist groups.  Some of the individuals have been detained and are currently serving out sentences.  Where others have arrest warrants issued by France, which are currently outstanding.

Go to the OSFI UNAQTR update on the OSFI page.

Go to the OSFI lists page.

OFAC

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Branch, The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), released three updates last week.  One update was related to the Counter Terrorist Designations list.  The second update was the publication of new Panama-related and Kingpin Act General Licenses and related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). The FAQ update is related to recent adjustments made to the sanctions placed on Panama.

OFAC also released the details about the implementation of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act, where penalties related to AML failings have increased 150%, the allowable maximum.  The adjustment to the base fine of USD 11,000, has now increased to USD 27,500.  This is based off the Consumer Price Index, and if you are curious about the actual math, see the image below:

OFAC CMP Calculation

OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.  The sanctions target countries, regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the U.S.  The changes to the Counter Terrorism Designations list included the removal of 11 Somali and Djibouti nationals.  The update also included the addition of one individual of Indian nationality with ties to the entity added, which is a section of Al-Qaida operating within India.

See the Counter Terrorism Designations List update on OFAC’s website.

See the Kingpin Act/Panama-related General Licenses and FAQs update on OFAC’s website.

See the Implementation of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act update on OFAC’s website.

See OFAC’s Recent Actions page.

Need A Hand?

We would love to hear from you.  If there are subjects in this post that you would like to know more about, or if you need assistance with your compliance program, please contact us.

Sanctions This Week: June 20th – 26th, 2016

 

OSFIOutlier3_032

On June 20th, 2016, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC’s) Al-Qaida and Taliban Regulations (UNAQTR) update to the sanctions list, removing one individual.

The assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, set out in paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015), no longer apply to the individual.  The review pursuant to Security Council resolution 1822 (2008) was concluded on July 30th, 2009, which is almost seven years ago.  For further information about the process for removing individuals and entities from the UNAQTR List, pursuant to a decision by the UN Security Council Committee, may be found in the “Press Releases” section on the Committee’s website.

Go to OSFI’s release of the UNAQTR update on the OSFI page.

Go to the United Nations Security Council Committee’s page on “Delisting”.

Go to the OSFI lists page.

OFAC

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Branch, The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), released two updates last week.  One update involved the agreement to to settle potential civil liability for apparent violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.  The second update was the addition of a single individual to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Designations list.

OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.  The sanctions target countries, regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the U.S.

The OFAC penalty settlement amount for violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations was $107,691.30 USD.  The stated violations are as follows:

  • On or about April 15, 2011, the company appeared to have violated the Regulations when it exported 3,600 medical products to its United Arab Emirates distributor with knowledge, or reason to know, that the goods were ultimately destined for Iran; and
  • Additionally, on or about May 27, 2011, the company exported an additional 400 units of the same product to its United Arab Emirates distributor with knowledge, or reason to know, that the goods were ultimately destined for Iran.

OFAC determined that the company voluntarily self-disclosed the apparent violations, and that the company constitutes a non-egregious case. The statutory maximum civil monetary penalty amount for the apparent violations was $1,129,912 USD and the base civil monetary penalty was $159,542.  The settlement amount reflects OFAC’s consideration of the following factors:

  • The company acted willfully by exporting products to its foreign distributor with knowledge, or reason to know, that the exports were ultimately destined for Iran in apparent violation of U.S. law, editing its destination control statement at the request of its distributor, and continuing to conduct business with its distributor after receiving confirmation that the distributor had re-exported the products to Iran;
  • The company’s former CEO and former International Sales Manager knew that the exports were ultimately destined for Iran; and
  • The company did not have a sanctions compliance program in place at the time of the apparent violations.

The company took remedial steps, including the implementation of an OFAC compliance program; and cooperated with OFAC’s investigation and agreed to toll the statute of limitations for a total of 513 days.

See the Enforcement Action Report on OFAC’s website.

See the Democratic Republic of the Congo updates on OFAC’s website.

See OFAC’s recent actions page.

Need A Hand?

We would love to hear from you.  If there are subjects in this post that you would like to know more about, or if you need assistance with your compliance program, please contact us.

Sanctions This Week: June 6th – 12th, 2016

OSFISanctions Pic

There were no updates released from OSFI this week.

Go to the OSFI lists page.

OFAC

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Branch, The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), released two updates to five sanction lists last week.  The updates, include the following:

  • Release of the 2015 Terrorist Assets Report;
  • Iran-related FAQ;
  • Counter Terrorism Designation;
  • Termination of the OFAC Fax-on-Demand Service; and
  • Kingpin Act/Honduras and Kingpin Act/Panama-related General Licenses and FAQ.

OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.  The sanctions target countries, regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the U.S.

The 2015 Terrorist Assets Report is theTwenty-fourth Annual Report to the Congress on Assets in the United States Relating to Terrorist Countries and International Terrorism Program Designees.  This report cites a number of sanctions-related authorities including executive orders.  All of the legal materials cited in this report may be found in the legal section of OFAC’s website.

The Iran-related FAQ was adding two FAQs related to Financial and Banking Measures  and nine FAQs related to Foreign Entities Owned or Controlled by U.S. Persons.  OFAC added these FAQs to provide further clarity on the scope of the sanctions lifting that occurred on Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The Counter Terrorism Designation list update was related to a single entity, Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, who are known to be operating in Syria.

The termination of the OFAC Fax-on-Demand services was due to a lack of user demand for the service which is effective Friday, June 10, 2016.  General information pertaining to sanctions programs will remain publicly available on OFAC’s website.

The recently published update and FAQ to the Kingpin Act General Licenses, included four new General Licenses related to:

  • General License 1B – Authorizing certain transactions and activities to liquidate and wind down Banco Continental, S.A.;
  • General License 4B – Authorizing certain transactions involving individuals or entities located in the Panamanian Mall and associated complex, Soho Panama, S.A. (a.k.a. Soho Mall Panama);
  • General License 5A – Authorizing certain transactions and activities related to the Panamanian seizure of Balboa Bank & Trust; and
  • General License 6A – Authorizing certain transactions and activities related to the Panamanian intervention in Balboa Securities, Corp.

These General Licenses authorize certain transactions and activities that would otherwise be prohibited pursuant to the Kingpin Act.  OFAC also amended four FAQs related to the above licenses.

See the 2015 Terrorist Assets Report on OFAC’s website.

See the Iran-related FAQ updates on OFAC’s website.

See the Counter Terrorism Designations list update on OFAC’s website.

See the termination of OFAC’s Fax-on-Demand service information on OFAC’s website.

See the Kingpin Act/Honduras and Kingpin Act/Panama-related General Licenses and FAQs update on OFAC’s website.

See OFAC’s recent actions page.

Need A Hand?

We would love to hear from you.  If there are subjects in this post that you would like to know more about, or if you need assistance with your compliance program, please contact us.

Sanctions This Week: May 30th-June 5th, 2016

 

OSFISanctions Pic

There were no updates released from OSFI this week.

Go to the OSFI lists page.

OFAC

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Branch, The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), released two updates to five sanction lists last week.  The lists that were updated, include the following:

  • Burundi Sanctions Designations;
  • Kingpin Act Designations;
  • Kingpin Act/Panama-related General License; and
  • A Statement on the Felix Maduro Group.

OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.  The sanctions target countries, regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the U.S.

The Burundi Sanctions Designations update included three military individuals, who were added.  These individuals are all high ranking military officers who are currently serving.

The Kingpin Act Designations update, included the removal of a single Panamanian entity.  No details were provided about the reasoning for the removal.

The Kingpin Act/Panama-related General License update, covered the maintenance of certain operations within the country.  Much like the previous related updated, the information provided details how to deal with listed Panamanian individuals and entities included in the General Licenses.  However, this iteration referred to the maintenance of La Estrella and El Siglo Newspapers.

The statement on the Felix Maduro Group, is related to OFAC’s designation of Waked Money Laundering Organization and their shared ownership.  However, based on consultations with, and actions undertaken by, the Government of Panama, OFAC understands that the Government of Panama is working to sever the SDNTs’ ownership and control of the Felix Maduro Group, in an effort to protect the Panamanian and U.S. financial systems from abuse.  The statement further clarifies the persons and transactions that would require authorization.

See the Burundi Sanctions Designations updates on OFAC’s website.

See the Kingpin Act Designations list updates on OFAC’s website.

See the Kingpin Act/Panama-related General License updates on OFAC’s website.

See the Statement on the Felix Maduro Group on OFAC’s website.

See OFAC’s recent actions page.

Need A Hand?

We would love to hear from you.  If there are subjects in this post that you would like to know more about, or if you need assistance with your compliance program, please contact us.

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