Frequently Asked Questions
What are financial sanctions?
Financial sanctions are restrictions put in place by the UN or UK to achieve a specific foreign policy or national security objective.
What are the legal basis for financial sanctions?
Who is responsible for financial sanctions?
The Governor is responsible for the implementation of domestic financial sanctions and also for those made at the request of another jurisdiction.
What role does the FIU play?
Provides support to the Governor and the Attorney General’s Chambers in carrying out certain functions which may have been delegated.
Responsible for the receipt of reports related to financial sanctions breaches and suspected activities or transactions.
Responsible for raising awareness of financial sanction and compliance responsibilities through outreach, collaborates with law enforcement and operational partners in assessing suspected breaches and ensures robust enforcement.
Engages with UK competent authorities.
Regulates for compliance with financial sanctions obligations. Can impose monetary penalties for regulatory breaches.
Investigates and enforces breaches of financial sanctions.
What are funds?
Funds are defined as financial assets and economic benefits of any kind whether from a legitimate or illegitimate source, including (but not limited to) digital assets, gold coin, gold bullion, cash, cheques, claims on money, drafts, money orders and other payment instruments; deposits with financial institutions or other entities, balances on accounts, debts and debt obligations; securities and debt instruments (including stocks and shares, certificates representing securities, bonds, notes, warrants, debentures, debenture stock and derivatives contracts); interest, dividends or other income on or value accruing from or generated by assets; credit, rights of set-off, guarantees, performance bonds or other financial commitments; letters of credit, bills of lading, bills of sale; documents evidencing an interest in funds or financial resources, and any other instrument of export financing.
What do I do if I suspect actions are being taken to directly or indirectly, circumvent sanctions prohibitions?
Since the introduction of severely restrictive sanctions against Russian interests, law enforcement have noted instances where current and potential future sanctioned individuals or entities have appointed or moved ownership of assets to non-sanctioned parties in order to circumvent sanctions restrictions.
These appointments could be to business associates, friends or family members for example, thus the sanctioned party can maintain indirect control of assets through voting rights, influence or relationships. Please refer to Anguilla's Financial Sanctions Guidance for assistance with ownership and control thresholds. Generally, an entity is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by a person in any of the following circumstances: the person holds (directly or indirectly) more than 50% of the shares or voting rights in an entity; the person has the right (directly or indirectly) to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors of the entity; or it is reasonable to expect that the person would be able to ensure the affairs of the entity are conducted in accordance with the person’s wishes.
Law enforcement have also noted instances where assets are being moved through or to jurisdictions where Russia-related sanctions regimes are not in place, or are less restrictive, in order to circumvent Western sanctions prohibitions. Such jurisdictions may include Turkey, United Arab Emirates (including Dubai), Cyprus and former Soviet Bloc states.
If you suspect any of the above activity, you should consider submitting a completed compliance reporting form in line with your reporting obligations and also consider reporting or liaising with the FIU.
What is a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available?
A prohibition on making funds or economic resources available is a targeted measure against certain natural or legal persons, enterprises or bodies expressly listed in the sanctions regulations. It stipulates a general prohibition on directly or indirectly putting at the disposal of the natural or legal persons, enterprises or bodies concerned any funds or assets that could be used by the recipient to obtain funds, regardless of the manner in which they are made available (sale, barter, return, gift, etc.).
Exemptions apply to the crediting of payments under legacy liabilities and of interest on frozen accounts. Moreover, payments to sanctioned natural or legal persons may be authorized by the Governor under certain conditions (e.g. to satisfy basic needs including payments for food, rent or mortgage, heating, etc.).
What is the provision of financing or financial assistance?
Prohibitions on the provision of financing or financial assistance cover any action, irrespective of the particular means chosen, whereby the person, entity or body concerned, conditionally or unconditionally, disburses or commits to disburse its own funds or economic resources, including but not limited to grants, loans, guarantees, suretyships, bonds, letters of credit, supplier credits, buyer credits, import or export advances and all types of insurance and reinsurance, including export credit insurance. Payment as well as terms and conditions of payment of the agreed price for a good or a service, made in line with normal business practice, do not constitute financing or financial assistance.
Screening against sanctions watchlists
As the sanctions regime is absolute, practices must have robust procedures in place to identify clients who may be “designated persons” under sanctions restrictions. These measures should be proportionate to the size and nature of your practice.
Decisions made in respect of the nature, depth and level of screening tools and systems deployed should include consideration of the size and nature of the practice unit.
Small firms, with limited exposure and lower risk profiles may deploy open source, free or off the shelf sanctions, Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)and adverse media screening tools and solutions. Those practices with higher exposure or risk profiles should consider more complex, comprehensive or bespoke solutions.
Factors that may increase the risk of a person being on the sanctions list and so increase the reason for checking the list include:
clients or transactions with links to jurisdictions subject to sanctions, even if the clients are based locally
transactions or matters involving higher-risk clients or politically exposed persons (PEPs) from jurisdictions subject to sanctions
higher-risk or complex transactions (particularly those that could be used to obscure ownership) where there is a link to sanctioned or higher-risk jurisdictions.
What are purposes of Targeted Financial Sanctions
Financial sanctions are generally imposed to:
Coerce a regime, or individuals within a regime, into changing their behavior (or aspects of it) by increasing the cost on them to such an extent that they decide to cease the offending behavior;
Constrain a target by denying them access to key resources needed to continue their offending behavior, including the financing of terrorism or nuclear proliferation;
Signal disapproval, stigmatizing and potentially isolating a regime or individual, or as a way of sending broader political messages nationally or internationally; and/or
Protect the value of assets that have been misappropriated from a country until these assets can be repatriated.
What should be included in a compliance report which is filed to the FIU?
The name, and, if available, the last known address, of the designated person or entity concerned.
For property that came into the possession or immediate control of a reporting entity through a transaction conducted or proposed to be conducted through the reporting entity and involving a facility with the reporting entity:
(a) the grounds on which the reporting entity holds the suspicion and the date on which that suspicion was formed;
(b) to the best of the knowledge of the reporting entity, the date on which the reporting entity became aware of the existence of the property, and if readily available to the reporting entity, the type of, and all other available identifying information about, the property;
(c) if readily available electronically to the reporting entity—
(i) the nature of the transaction; and
(ii) the date of the transaction.
(iii) the type and identifying number of the facility;
(iv) the value of the property in the facility, if known to the person preparing the report for the reporting entity;
(d) the name, address, date of birth, if applicable, and if known to the person preparing the report for the reporting entity, occupation or, if appropriate, business or principal activity of the person in whose name the facility is operated, and if available to the person preparing the report for the reporting entity, details of any documentary or other evidence held by the reporting entity and used to establish the identity of that person;
(e) the names of the signatories to the facility and, if available to the person preparing the report for the reporting entity, details of any documentary or other evidence held by the reporting entity and used to establish the identity of the signatories to the facility:
(f) if readily available electronically to the reporting entity, the name, address, date of birth, if applicable, and occupation or, if appropriate, business or principal activity of each person conducting the transaction and of any person on whose behalf the transaction is conducted;
(g) if applicable, the branch name, address, and telephone number of the reporting entity which provided the facility involved in the transaction or the reporting entity through which the transaction was conducted, as the case may be.
For other property in the possession or immediate control of a reporting entity or any other person
(a) the grounds on which the reporting entity or other person holds the suspicion and the date on which that suspicion was formed;
(b) to the best of the knowledge of the reporting entity or other person, the date on which the reporting entity or other person became aware of the existence of the property, and if readily available to the reporting entity or other person, the type of, and all other available identifying information about the property;
(c) the value of the property, if known to the reporting entity or other person;
(d) if available to the reporting entity or other person the name, address, date of birth, if applicable, and occupation or, if appropriate, business or principal activity of the person who owns the property, if it is not owned by the entity, and details of any documentary or other evidence held by the reporting entity or other person and used to establish the identity of the person who owns the property;
(e) if available to the reporting entity or other person, the name, address, date of birth, if applicable, and occupation or, if appropriate, business or principal activity of the person who controls the property, if it is not controlled by the entity, and details of any documentary or other evidence held by the reporting entity or other person and used to establish the identity of the person who controls the property.
If the report is made in relation to property controlled or possessed by a reporting entity, the name, position, and phone and fax number of the person authorised by the reporting entity to prepare and submit the report. In all other cases, the name, position, if relevant, and phone and fax numbers of the person who prepared the report.
How can I find out who has been sanctioned?
Checks can be made from the following consolidated lists search locations for The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”), The United Nations Security Council (“UNSC”) and The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”):
https://sanctionssearchapp.ofsi.hmtreasury.gov.uk/
https://scsanctions.un.org/search/
Does Anguilla currently have it own sanctions list?
Anguilla does not currently have it own designation list has there has been no domestic designation.
Dealing with false positive.
Persons and Reporting entities are required to ascertain that potential matches are true matches and not false positives. It is the responsibility of the person or entity to take further measures or steps (e.g. make further inquiries for additional information, etc.) to determine whether the potential match is a true match.
They are to ensure that the identifiers are strong and corroborative to make their own assessment on the parameters used to ensure true matches.
Freezing requirements
Persons and reporting entities are required to hold or freeze funds deposited by a listed individual or entity into their clients’ account "without delay and prior notice" until its delisting or the sanction is uplifted.
Are persons or reporting entities permitted to receive payments for loan or financing account of a designated person or entity?
Yes. person or reporting entity are permitted to receive payments into the specified entities loan or financing accounts. However, should the payment be for the purchase of assets, the assets should remain frozen even after the full settlement of the financing facilities i.e. no transfer of ownership to the specified entity or a third party.
In the event of any non-payment of loans, the person or reporting entity shall not proceed with legal action or any subsequent court process without prior application to, and approval by the Governor.
Can persons or reporting entities close any account where the loans are not being serviced?
Yes. person or reporting may close any account where loan are not being serviced only upon the approval by the Governor.
What are the grounds for a specific licence?
Licences can generally be obtained where the proposed transactions are for:
covering expenses such as food, rent and medicines (referred to as basic needs)
reasonable professional legal fees or reasonable expenses associated with the provision of legal services
prior obligations (if the obligation/contract started before the sanction was imposed)
covering the payment of fees/service charges for routine holding or maintenance of frozen funds or economic resources
pre-existing judicial decisions
extraordinary expenses, where considered appropriate
extraordinary situations, where considered appropriate (only for non-UN listed persons)
humanitarian assistance
diplomatic missions
When and how to send in a request for de-listing or unfreezing for UN Listed individuals and entities seeking de-listing?
Individuals and entities may request for de-listing if they have been listed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council (other than those listed in the UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 1267/1989 and 1988) or the UK Sanctions List but do not or no longer meet the criteria for designation.
To apply, send the request for de-listing to the Governor who will then forward the request to the UN focal point. Alternatively, all persons (legal and natural) should send in their request to the FIU at fiu@gov.ai.
All requests will be assessed by the relevant authorities based on criteria set out in the relevant UNSCRs. At the end of the review, the relevant authorities will inform the requestor.
If an individual or entity has been assessed to not meet or no longer meet the criteria for designation, the Governor will submit a de-listing request to the relevant UN Security Council Committee. Upon successful de-listing by the relevant UN Security Council Committee, the prohibition and freezing provisions will no longer apply to the individual or entity.
When and how to send in a request for de-listing or unfreezing for individuals and entities seeking unfreezing?
In exceptional cases, individuals and entities not listed by the UN Security Council as designated individuals or entities may be inadvertently affected by the prohibition and freezing provisions in relevant legislation. For example, an individual or entity could have a name similar to that of a designated individual or entity.
Affected parties may write to Governor through the FIU at fiu@gov.ai to request for assistance. The request should include information and supporting documents demonstrating that they are not a designated individual or entity.
Upon verification, the relevant authorities will work with the affected parties to resolve the issue.
When and how to send in a request for de-listing or unfreezing for UNSCRs 1267/1989 and 1988 listed individuals and entities seeking de-listing or unfreezing?
The following individuals and entities may refer to Anguilla Financial Sanctions Guidelines and the FIU's webpage for information relative to the making and submitting de-listing requests:
Those placed on the UN 1267/1989 and 1988 Lists but do not or no longer meet the criteria for designation.
Those who have been inadvertently affected by any prohibition or freezing of funds or assets under these UNSCRs.