John Binns
The Commerzbank fine: an expert’s view
The final notice recently issued by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority against the London branch of Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG (Commerzbank London) offers some insights into the anti-money laundering (AML) systems of a major financial institution, the flaws in those systems and the FCA’s approach to dealing with those flaws.
How non-banks can ensure compliance with growing regulatory obligations – John Binns talks to Lexology
John Binns speaks to BBC local radio about the Russia Report
‘Russian elite and criminal money fully integrated in UK, Parliament committee finds’ – Money Laundering Bulletin
Global human rights sanctions Regulations 2020 – John Binns discusses with Money Laundering Bulletin
Global human rights sanctions Regulations 2020 – John Binns discusses with LexisNexis
UK joins game of Russian roulette with sanctions plan – John Binns speaks to The Telegraph
Magnitsky Sanctions in the UK: Who are the Targets?
‘Gross violations’
What does the first list of ‘designated persons’ under the UK’s Magnitsky sanctions regime tell us about how they will be used? It is, perhaps deliberately, a mixed bag of targets, a set of 49 individuals and organisations from four different countries, associated with some of the UK’s highest-profile foreign policy issues. Most, but not all, of them also seem designed to fit the category of ‘gross violation of human rights’ in the enabling Act (the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA)) – very broadly, the torture by state officials of those who expose corruption or promote human rights. Indeed, 25 of the targets, a bare majority are said to be associated with the case of Magnitsky himself, who died in a Russian prison in 2009, after making allegations of corruption.
