In the latest edition of our Sanctions Watch weekly digest, we present significant updates on sanction watchlists and regulatory developments.

Firstly, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has utilized its recently acquired authority for Disclosure enforcement, allowing it to publicly reveal details regarding violations of financial sanctions. This disclosure includes information about the individuals or entities accountable for these violations in cases where civil monetary penalties are not deemed appropriate.

Then we discuss the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) which introduced a comprehensive database documenting the art transactions involving designated Russian individuals who are subject to sanctions. As of now, this database encompasses data on over 300 art pieces, collectively valued at an estimated USD 2 billion.

On the International front, the United Nations sanctions on Mali came to an end due to Russia’s veto against the renewal of the measures aimed at individuals who were involved in actions such as violating or impeding the 2015 peace agreement, obstructing humanitarian aid distribution, engaging in human rights violations, or recruiting child soldiers.

Also, the Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC) took a significant step towards enhancing its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) efforts by introducing its inaugural compliance platform, marked by the establishment of the Labuan Bank Compliance Officers’ Networking Group (LB-CONG).