BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, February 18. The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has thrown down the gauntlet to commercial banks, urging them to tighten the screws on customer monitoring to steer clear of sanctions. They’ve made it crystal clear that not toeing the line could spell the end of correspondent banking relationships, Trend reports.
In an official letter, the National Bank highlighted the need for improved internal controls due to increased restrictions from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Banks are advised to prevent transactions involving individuals or goods on sanction lists, including those from OFAC, the EU, and other countries.
The bank recommended that banks conduct thorough checks on clients and counterparties, review payments closely, request additional documentation for payments, as well as scrutinize suspicious transactions, particularly those linked to sanctioned jurisdictions
Banks must also regularly update sanction lists and assess clients’ financial status and risks.
On January 15, the US Department of the Treasury, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control, imposed sanctions on Keremet Bank, a Kyrgyzstan-based financial institution. The sanctions were due to the bank’s involvement in facilitating cross-border transfers for Promsvyazbank, a Russian bank under US sanctions since 2022.
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