Sanctions Compliance

Sanctions Compliance

International trade and trade instruments have important features that make them potentially attractive vehicles to launder criminal money. The sheer volume and international nature of trade, frequent use of offshore entities such as Free Trade Zones and complex trade finance instruments create a cloak of complexity and lack of transparency that the financial criminals seek.

Banks have historically provided crucial trust enhancement to the process to facilitate trade and may therefore be indirectly exposed to abuse by criminals to launder their ill-gotten gains.

Sanctions have become an unavoidable facet of the modern global economy. For firms in the financial services sector in particular, navigating the shifting regulatory landscape can be a difficult task. With third parties, clients and staff all potential sources of non-compliance, organisations must remain vigilant at all times.

Ignore at your risk

The cost of failing to comply can be severe, both financially and in terms of reputation. Should a company find itself doing business with war criminals, rogue states or terrorists, for example, the cost of a sanctions breach can be substantial. The same can be said if an organisation is found to have done insufficient due diligence on its clients or customers. Entities in breach of US legislation may find the cost of non-compliance particularly high.

Be prepared

There is, frankly, no excuse for a lack of preparation. Companies must devote adequate resources to develop and maintain the right compliance framework. They must be able to move quickly to keep pace with the changing environment and devote the resources required to remain compliant. Organisations need to be dynamic and agile, since their obligations can change almost overnight. Compliance programmes should be tailored to an organisation’s culture and effective policies and procedures should be communicated from senior management and cascaded throughout the organisation.

Invest in awareness

This requires regular and comprehensive educational programmes for employees and third parties. i-KYC has developed a general introduction to sanctions compliance e-learning to help companies enhance the general knowledge and awareness about sanctions of their employees. Download the flyer to see more details.

Course Overview

This highly interactive sanctions e-learning has especially been designed by subject matter experts. Participants will gain valuable general knowledge about sanctions, how sanctions may impact their business and how to ensure compliance with relevant sanctions regimes.

Target Audience

This course is especially relevant for (Senior) Client Relationship Managers, Trade Finance (Operations) specialists, Risk Management analysts, Compliance officers, CDD analysts and Senior Executives.

Knowledge Test & Certification

Each module will end with a Knowledge Check to test if the participants have understood the content of the training. The results of the tests can be saved or printed and can serve as an audit trail for evidence towards the regulator

Audit Reporting Package

Evidence of course completion of users including Knowledge Test scores & time stamp for local Regulators and Correspondent Bank relationships. Including document with e-learning content (slides) plus list of questions of the knowledge checks.

Course Objectives

At the end of the training, participants will have enhanced their awareness of sanctions compliance and be able to:

• describe in general terms what sanctions are, their purpose, key features and reach;
• identify which sanctions regimes are the most important and how they can impact your business;
• adhere to key sanctions do’s and don’ts;
• respond to your clients’ general queries about sanctions.

Course Content

• What should you know?
  • What are sanctions
  • Purpose and nature of sanctions
  • Types of sanctions
  • Which sanctions regimes are most important for you
• What should you do?
  • Enhance awareness
  • Client communication
  • Do’s and dont’s
• What should you have?
  • Sanctions risk management framework
  • Purpose-driven policy implementation
• A knowledge check
• Several case studies will be presented throughout the e-learning.