One of the many lasting consequences of the downturn has been a prolonged expansion of the globalised compliance framework. Increased oversight of financial markets has been at the forefront of this development, as reflected by the passage of the US Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 and a succession of EU directives. This trend has also witnessed a heightened focus on white-collar crime, targeting areas such as fraud, corruption, tax evasion, terrorism financing and money laundering. Existing laws, such as Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, have been strengthened, and new legislation, such as the UK Bribery Act, has been introduced.
Compounding this heightened enforcement climate has been the expansion of the global sanctions regime, underwritten by the fallout from the Arab Spring, Russian intervention in Ukraine, the Syrian conflict and the ongoing struggle against ISIS. And although the partial lifting of measures against Iran has now raised the prospect of investing in a promising new market, the fact that important limitations still apply has arguably complicated the sanctions compliance burden. There is also the possibility that the snapback mechanism for the re-imposition of economic sanctions could be triggered if Iran does not comply with its obligations. In short, the sanctions landscape is fluid and liable to change quickly, increasing the scope for regulatory confusion.
