MLR3C10185 - What do I do if a business is in breach of a sanction?

HMRC is not the supervisor of MSBs in relation to compliance with the sanctions. We are however the supervisor of them for the purposes of money laundering and terrorist financing. It therefore follows that to be compliant for these purposes a business must, as part of its risked based approach have policies and procedures in place to be able to respond appropriately to the introduction of financial sanctions against the targeted persons and entities. A failure to have adequate systems or procedures in place is a breach of Regulation 20 MLR 2007. Where this applies the business should be warned or penalised in the normal way.

Failure to comply with a financial sanction or asset freeze is a criminal offence. If you discover that a business has failed to comply by entering into a prohibited transaction you should advise the business that it must not enter any further transactions. The matter should be reported to the Policy Team who will liaise with the Treasury regarding what further steps will be taken.