World-Check Launches Best Practice Iran Sanctions Solution - Two New Products to Help Clients Identify Iran Regulatory and Reputational Risk
LONDON, October 5, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --
- Market Leader Dedicates its Unparalleled Resources to Help its 4,500+ Clients Meet Their New Requirements
World-Check today announced the launch of its Iran Economic Interest (IEI) solution following a raft of new international legislation including the U.S. Government's Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act (CISADA) of July 2010, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929 (UNSCR 1929), and new Iran sanctions laws passed by the European Union (EU), Canada, Australia, Japan and many more.
The first new product, World-Check's IEI Database, empowers businesses to automatically screen every client, relationship and transaction for individuals and entities believed to have a relationship with Iran. World-Check's second product, the IEI IntegraScreen Report, empowers businesses to quickly and cost-effectively commission a bespoke enhanced due diligence report on any entity or relationship with heightened Iran-related exposure.
The international sanctions expand the scope of earlier sanctions to include not only the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which World-Check has monitored for a decade, but also considerable new restrictions on Iran's energy, financial, insurance, trade and transportation sectors, which World-Check's IEI solution now covers comprehensively. Furthermore, the extra-territorial reach of CISADA and other sanctions means that organisations that continue to engage in prohibited Iran-related activity may be subject to civil and financial penalties, even if they have no local presence.
Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Stuart Levey, has said, "Treasury will continue to target any bank, wherever located, that supports Iran's nuclear or missile programs." The U.S. Treasury Department has specifically stated: "CISADA forces a stark choice: if you conduct certain business with Iran, you can't do business with the United States." CISADA also requires Treasury to prohibit or impose strict conditions on access to the U.S. financial system by any foreign financial institution that facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for blacklisted banks.
The global Iran sanctions regimes mandate businesses to institute robust and wide ranging 'Know Your Customer' processes so that they can understand their Iran-related exposure and manage them accordingly. The 'knowingly' definition specifically introduced in CISADA raises the risk for potential criminal and civil liability by expanding the definition from "actual knowledge" to include what "should have been known." Once significant and/or relevant information is freely available in the public domain, there is an expectation that such information is knowable.
To help clients meet the knowingly test, World-Check collects and analyses public domain information in more than 62 languages, including Farsi, across 5 continents with over 450 researchers, to identify tens of thousands of organisations believed to have business interests with Iran. Existing World-Check customers can have the new IEI dataset added to their current download so that they can immediately begin screening new and existing relationships and transactions against this updated-daily list. Similarly, World-Check's unrivalled research operation can turn around a custom due diligence report targeting Iran exposure on any entity at a set price in just a few days.
Dan Peak, CEO of World-Check, added, "This legislation has teeth and it will have a serious bite. The expanded scope of the new international legislation means that checking dusty, old sanction lists or doing Internet searches for anything mentioning Iran is not going to cut it. Businesses need real intelligence. They need solutions that are manageable, cost-effective and, more importantly, solutions that actually work. Based on client trials, World-Check is very confident that it will help clients find hidden Iran risk. We have a ten year track record of building intelligence databases and helping clients unearth real risk hiding within their organisations."
Continuing he said, "While many companies in Europe and Asia have already imposed a complete ban on business with Iran, honouring these sanctions will not be simple. Businesses could be unwittingly engaging in transactions which expose them indirectly to sanctioned entities, agents, or prohibited business activities. The Iran sanctions are a timely reminder for companies across all sectors that 'knowing your customer' mitigates regulatory, legal and reputational risk."
For more information, please visit http://www.world-check.info/iransanctions.html
About World-Check
Trusted by more than 4,500 institutions in over 160 countries, including 49 of the world's top 50 banks, World-Check offers an end-to-end solution for assessing, managing and remediating financial, regulatory and reputational risks. World-Check's global database of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and heightened risk individuals and entities, due diligence reports, passport verification and country risk assessment tools provide the means to address the full spectrum of risk across all markets and industries. Represented across five continents, World-Check's international research team monitors emerging risks in more than 60 languages, covering over 240 countries and territories worldwide.
SOURCE World-Check
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