UK Fines Currency Exchange Company for Violating EU Sanctions
Travelex Ltd., a currency-exchange company, was fined about $12,600 for violating the European Union’s Egypt financial sanctions regime, the United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a May 24 press release. The company “dealt with funds” of about $250 “belonging to a person designated” by the sanctions, the OFSI said in an enforcement notice.
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The OFSI said Travelex had “reasonable cause to suspect” that it was violating sanctions and had “direct, in-person, contact with a designated person” who was sanctioned for “the misappropriation of Egyptian State Funds.” “Travelex were aware of financial sanctions risks and their obligations,” the notice said, “and despite this they dealt with funds belonging to a” designated person.
The OFSI stressed that companies should complete “appropriate financial sanctions screening” of customers. Asset freezes generally ban financial companies from dealing with “frozen funds” or making “funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, or for the benefit of” a sanctioned person.