Frozen assets must be reported by November 11 – firms that fail to comply risk £1m fines

Anti-money laundering experts SmartSearch are urging businesses to act now to ensure they are able to meet the frozen assets reporting deadline of November 11.

Under UK legislation, the funds and economic resources belonging to, owned, held or controlled by any person who is subject to sanctions – known as a designated person - must be frozen, and the details of these funds must be reported to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).

Each year, HM Treasury carries out a review to update any changes to these frozen assets, and as part of this review, any persons or businesses that hold or control funds owned, held, or controlled by a designated person, must provide a report the details of these assets to OFSI.

This year, the deadline for completion of the report and submission to OFSI for Frozen Assets review is Friday 11 November 2022; any businesses that do not comply face fines of up to £1m.

Martin Cheek, Managing Director at SmartSearch said: “When Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the UK put in place the largest package of financial sanctions it has ever imposed against Russia. This resulted in a huge rise in the number of sanctioned individuals, meaning it had never been more important for firms to ensure they were meeting their reporting obligations.

“When those sanctions were announced, all our existing clients were able to identify any customers affected immediately thanks to our daily alerts, and we also created a High-Risk Country Report service to enable businesses to immediately check their customers for links to Russia any other high-risk countries and identify any customers that had become subject to the new sanctions.

“Now, all firms are being asked to report frozen assets by November 11, or face postnatally crippling penalties, so it is understandable that many have concerns about how to identify any affected customers in time.

“If you are worried about how to meet your frozen assets obligations, contact us today - our award-winning solution can screen your entire database quickly with access to a comprehensive range of multiple data sources to fulfil your regulatory requirements.”

To find out more about the Frozen Assets review, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-frozen-asset-review-and-reporting-form

To find out how SmartSearch can enable you to act quickly and compliantly to meet your Frozen Assets review obligations visit www.smartsearch.com