Explore this month’s Sanctions and Export Controls Update, highlighting IFI’s take on key developments from August 2026.

MAR sounds straightforward until a real case tests it. This guide breaks down what the regulation covers, who it applies to, and the disclosure rules, court rulings, and regulatory guidance that shifted the ground under compliance teams in 2026.

Explore this month’s Sanctions and Export Controls Update, highlighting IFI’s take on key developments from April 2026.

The FATF standards, known as the 40 Recommendations, have become more expansive, detailed, and stringent over time, requiring more of both public and private sector institutions.

There were several major sanctions-related developments in January, most notably the U.S.’s easing of sanctions to facilitate Venezuelan oil sales and the ratcheting up of western sanctions in response to Tehran’s violent crackdown on protestors, among others.

Secondary sanctions extend the reach of a country’s regulatory authority to foreign individuals and entities with no direct connection to the sanctioning country.

Explore this month’s Sanctions and Export Controls Update, highlighting IFI’s take on key developments from Ocotober 2025.

Explore this month’s Sanctions and Export Controls Update, highlighting IFI’s take on key developments from July 2025.

Explore this month’s Sanctions and Export Controls Update, highlighting IFI’s take on key developments from the U.S., EU and UK in May 2025.

Explore this month’s Sanctions and Export Controls Update, highlighting IFI’s take on key developments from the U.S., EU and UK in April 2025.

Review policies and regulation on crypto in the U.S., UK, EU, and globally, how this influences adoption, and measures to capitalize on rewards while managing illicit finance risks.

Explore the highlights from our most recent webinar about Russia sanctions. What happened in 2024, how has the regulatory atmosphere changed, and how will the sanctions environment evolve in 2025?

Explore three recent examples with Russia, Iran, and North Korea, which represent some of the most common methods illicit actors have embraced to evade sanctions. Understanding them is an important starting point for private sector firms in assessing and responding to their exposure.

The U.S. Treasury has issued a Syria General License to provide gradual sanctions relief for the Syrian people after the regime of Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December 2024. What does this sanctions relief mean to financial institutions and other firms hoping to transact in the country?

It’s more important than ever for compliance officers to understand and recognize sanctions evasion typologies. In this article, we explore six of the most common techniques illicit actors use to evade sanctions.

The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security recently published guidance for financial institutions on complying with strategic trade controls and discussing best practices, red flags, screening, and reporting. The latest guidance provides greater detail on due diligence and risk management to help financial institutions detect and deter emerging and evolving export controls evasion.

The convergence of sanctions and anti-money laundering efforts has significantly accelerated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. FINTRAC in June 2024 released a special bulletin focusing on financial activity associated with suspected sanctions evasion. The report highlighted shared methodologies and insights to help compliance teams collaborate on best practices.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) five years ago published its Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments. This guidance remains the most comprehensive articulation of OFAC’s compliance expectations to date. Although it notably stopped short of mandating a sanctions compliance program (SCP), recent enforcement actions demonstrate the implications of not having an SCP in place.

The U.S. Treasury recently identified proliferation networks operating on behalf of Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, Syria, and Pakistan as threats to U.S. national security. These networks exploited the U.S. financial system to finance the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including financing to procure WMD components and raising revenues to support efforts by these state actors to advance their WMD activities.

When conducting customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence, simple screening for names that may be on sanctions lists is no longer sufficient given the increasing complexity of Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts and the volatile regulatory environment because of Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine. Extra research is necessary to ensure compliance with sanctions laws and adherence with your company’s own risk policies. This research, however, can be complex, and structured analytic techniques and tools are necessary for effective due diligence. 

With the onset of stringent sanctions against Russia in 2022, US officials and financial analysts began to speculate about the potential for cryptocurrencies to serve as a means for evasion. But can virtual assets enables a nation's efforts to evade sanctions?

The US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) landmark approval of 11 Spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) from several leading financial firms, including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale Investments, this month marks a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for virtual assets.

US President Joe Biden on December 22, 2023, signed an executive order to authorize the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to designate foreign financial institutions that help Russia’s defense industry, as Moscow’s war against Ukraine approaches its two-year anniversary.

Price Cap Coalition partners have published an Advisory following reports that Russia has been evading the $60 per barrel price cap that was imposed by the Coalition last year. The Advisory provides some best practices and recommendations to the maritime oil industry to help stakeholders reduce their exposure to risks of Russian oil cap evasion by detecting restricted trade in Russian oil.