Sanction Lists

"Sanction Lists" is a web-based information system that enables users (primarily financial institutions - banks, insurers, insurance funds, etc.) to perform background checks against lists of sanctioned persons and entities published by international and national organizations and institutions when doing business with domestic and foreign customers to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

What are sanctions lists

Sanctions lists are official lists of names that are published by various authorities at national and international level. Included in the product are lists published by the United Nations, the European Union, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury, and the Financial Sanctions Enforcement Service of the U.K. Treasury, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), as well as the "List of Individuals, Legal Persons, Groups and Organizations Subject to Measures Under the Anti-Terrorism Financing Measures Act" adopted by Decision No. 265 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria dated April 23, 2003. These lists contain the names of persons, organizations, banks, companies, vessels and aircraft subject to official economic or legal sanctions. The provision of financial or economic resources to any person or entity on a sanctions list is prohibited.

Sanctions generally impose some or all of the following measures against sanction listed persons or entities:

  • Trade embargo;
  • Prohibitions on certain types of trade or on trade in certain businesses;
  • Asset freezes;
  • Travel bans on individuals.

Purpose of the sanctions lists

Financial sanctions are an important part of the global fight against financial crime. Governments apply sanctions to restrict or prohibit trade with entities engaged in violations of international law, human rights abuses, or other forms of criminality, such as money laundering, cyber-attacks, etc.

Financial sanctions can be imposed against entire countries or against individuals and organizations. They can also be used against third parties who are not directly involved in criminal offences but act on behalf of sanctioned persons or entities.Sanctions lists are also useful in meeting the requirements of obliged persons under the Act on Measures Against the Financing of Terrorism and of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.The product contains information on sanctioned persons and entities according to the European Union regulations mentioned in this act.

Need to check sanctions lists

Because sanctions violations result in the imposition of serious civil or criminal restrictive and coercive measures, financial institutions and other obligated persons should carefully consider their exposure to sanctions and, if necessary, integrate sanctions list verification (screening) with their internal AML compliance processes. Organizations typically use two main forms of screening to achieve their risk mitigation objectives:

a) Transaction screening, which seeks to identify transactions involving sanctioned individuals, organizations or entities;

b) Customer/name verification to identify sanctioned persons, organizations or entities at the time of initial business contact or at other important stages of the customer relationship.

Sanction lists included in the product

The product offers the ability to check by name a person or entity against the following sanction lists:

  • Consolidated list of individuals and organizations and other groups sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council
  • Consolidated List of persons, groups and entities subject to financial sanctions imposed by the European Union
  • Consolidated list of EU-sanctioned persons subject to travel restrictions
  • Consolidated List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury (SDN List)
  • Consolidated Sanctions List of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Non-SDN Lists)
  • Consolidated list of individuals, groups and entities subject to financial sanctions by the United Kingdom
  • List of Russia-related persons designated in connection with financial and investment restrictions in the United Kingdom
  • Consolidated list of individuals, legal persons, groups and entities subject to measures under the Terrorist Financing Measures Act
  • Consolidated list of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

For each person or entity on the list, in addition to the various spellings of the name, additional information is provided, such as: identification data, nationality (seat), address, date of publication on the list, date of entry into force of the sanction, etc., as well as a link to the sanctioning authority's website containing detailed legal and background information on the relevant sanctions regime.

Ability to check own lists

The product has functionality to automatically check the lists of user's individuals. When lists of persons are prepared in the format required by the product for verification, the application performs real-time check of lists up to 1 000 rows, as well as check of unlimited lists within 24 hours.

Data update

The data in the sanctions lists are subject to continuous updating in accordance with changes in the sanctions policies of the relevant international and national bodies and organizations. Changes shall be reflected in the product's database no later than 24 hours after their publication by the source.

 

Sanctions Lists API

Product functionality has been developed through an Application Programming Interface (API) to integrate data from the Sanctions Lists product with user systems.

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