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Sanctions and anti-money laundering

Screen customers and partners, and know what the sanctions and anti-money laundering rules expect of you.

Sanctions and anti-money laundering

What clients ask us

Do we have to screen our customers and suppliers?

EU sanctions bind every EU company, not only banks, and prohibit making funds or resources available to listed persons, directly or indirectly. No law prescribes one screening method for non-regulated businesses, but you need a documented process at the start of each relationship: check names and beneficial owners against the EU consolidated list and relevant UN, UK or US lists, and repeat when lists change. Breaches are penalised under national law, often as criminal offences (in Belgium, for example), and the EU is aligning these penalties across Member States.

What do we do if a counterparty is on a sanctions list?

Stop and escalate at once. Do not proceed with the deal, payment or delivery until it is clear whether the match is true or a false positive, checking identifiers such as date of birth, nationality and registration number. Document the investigation either way. A confirmed match normally means freezing assets and notifying the competent national authority (in Belgium, the FPS Finance Treasury). Take legal advice before acting or terminating contracts.

Which anti-money laundering duties apply to our business?

Only obliged entities are subject to the anti-money laundering rules, which implement the EU AML Directives and are therefore broadly similar across Member States (in Belgium, the Law of 18 September 2017): financial institutions, notaries, accountants, tax advisers, real estate agents, company service providers, certain dealers in high-value goods and lawyers for specified activities. They must identify customers and beneficial owners, assess risk, monitor and report suspicions to the national financial intelligence unit (in Belgium, the CTIF-CFI). Other companies must still keep their own UBO register entry accurate.

Who must be recorded in the UBO register, and how do we find out who owns a counterparty?

Companies must record the natural persons who ultimately own or control them, currently above 25% of shares or voting rights or through other control, and the senior managers if nobody meets the test, and keep the data current. For a counterparty, ask for a certified ownership chart and supporting documents, and screen every natural person and entity in it. Layered structures through trusts or third countries need extra care.

How do we handle sanctions and compliance in contracts and deals?

Add sanctions and compliance clauses: warranties that neither party nor its owners are listed, a duty to notify changes, a right to suspend or terminate without liability if performance would breach sanctions, and audit or information rights. In acquisitions, screen the seller, the target and its owners before signing and record the checks. Pitch builds this into due diligence and contract review.

What is changing in the AML rules?

The EU AML package of 2024 includes Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, which applies directly from July 2027 and sets harmonised customer due diligence rules, and creates the European AML Authority (AMLA). It also refers to a beneficial ownership threshold of 25% or more. National laws will be adjusted, so if you are an obliged entity, plan your procedures now and check the current text before relying on any detail.

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