Accuity Insights Blog

As part of our ‘Ask the Expert’ series, we ask Nicholas Turner, Of Counsel with Steptoe & Johnson in Hong Kong and author of the weekly Sanctions Top-5 blog, about the trends he’s seeing across the global sanctions landscape.

In the cargo sector, better compliance isn’t only about protecting your business; it’s also about improved competitive advantage for carriers.

Last year the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a new Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments, outlining the five essential components of a sanctions compliance program and the root causes of compliance violations. Do you have these in place?

Increased regulatory scrutiny as evidenced by recent OFAC enforcement actions against insurance providers is a growing concern across the board. It is sending insurance and reinsurance companies a clear message that they need to strengthen compliance. Companies that are still doing AML checks manually – which is not uncommon – are now looking to automate this process.

In the first part of our ‘Ask the Expert’ series, we ask Saskia Rietbroek, Executive Director of the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS), about the complexity of navigating the 2019 sanctions landscape.

Transparency in sanctions screening is a first step, but today, explainability is a critical goal. Organisations must be able to explain the entire chain from strategy and risk assessment to policies and procedures.

Efficiency in sanctions compliance is all about allocating the right resources, while optimising results and maintaining effectiveness. It is critical in reducing costs and mitigating the risk of fines and reputational damage.

Effectiveness, efficiency and explainability – “the three E’s” – are the interdependent foundational girders for building a sound sanctions compliance program. In the first of this three-part blog series, we’ll look at the role of effectiveness in sanctions compliance.

Artificial intelligence is already transforming financial services and has the potential to bring about even greater change, but we should always remember its limitations.

International governments and regulators work tirelessly to combat money laundering and terrorism financing around the world. But as anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CFT) regulation in banks has tightened, criminals are always looking for other avenues to hide, clean and move money.

We are taking a look back at our top five most visited blogs for the first half of 2019.

A survey conducted by Accuity, in connection with the Law Society of England and Wales, reveals firms’ challenges as the sector tightens up on financial crime.