Sanctions compliance

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This Overview is a guide to the Lexis+® UK Financial Services subtopic Sanctions compliance and includes links to appropriate materials. UK sanctions obligations apply to all businesses and persons in the UK; this sub-topic focuses on the implications for firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), cryptoasset firms registered with the FCA under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/692 (MLRs), and payments and e-money firms supervised by the FCA (herein referred to as firms), in their compliance with sanctions.

What are international sanctions?

Sanctions regimes are a tool of foreign policy affecting businesses or persons and are typically used where international peace and security is threatened. They can:

  1. •

    encourage a change in the behaviour, policy or activity of the target person, entity, government or country

  2. •

    apply pressure on a target to comply with certain objectives, and

  3. •

    enforce measures where diplomatic efforts have failed

Sanctions regimes are reviewed, lifted, revoked or adapted in the light of changes in the behaviour

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