UK Sanctions Regulator Issues Its Largest Fine To Date

The UK Government's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ("OFSI") recently announced it has fined Standard Chartered Bank £20.5 million (about $25 million) for alleged breaches of sanctions.

The sanctions in question (the "Russia/Ukraine Sanctions") were put in place following the dispute over the status of Crimea in 2014 and are provided for in the Ukraine (European Union Financial Sanctions) (No.3) Regulations 2014, which implement EU Regulation 833/2014.¹ Among other things, the Russia/Ukraine Sanctions prohibit the provision of loans with a maturity over 30 days to certain entities (including Sberbank) as well as their majority-held subsidiaries established outside of the European Union.