Latest sanctions that financial institutions in the UK must apply
Posted: Monday,
December 5, 2022
Following the United Kingdom (UK) law and Opal Transfer internal policy, we aren't allowed to send money to certain countries and regions.
1. Banned regions: Russia (including territories controlled by Russia) and Belarus.
2. Sanctioned persons, entities and banks according to:
3. Any person or business, including merchants, which are subject to our List of Banned Industries:
List of Banned Industries
Prior to accepting a business relationship, Opal Transfer must ensure that client’s activity or transaction is not involved in any of the following services:
- Adult Products and Services, which include online dating, pornography and other sexually suggestive materials (including literature, imagery and other media); escort or prostitution Services; website access and website memberships of pornography or illegal sites.
- Child pornography, bestiality, rape and non-consensual mutilation content.
- Body parts, which include organs or other body parts.
- Weapons and explosives, like firearms, ammunition, knives, brass knuckles, gun parts, and another military/defence armaments.
- Goods, technology, software or components designed or modified for military/ use (for example, Small arms and light weapons; small arms ammunitions and tank/artillery munitions, individual ballistic protection, vehicle armour and vehicles, aircraft or marine craft, imaging equipment, armoured protective equipment, cryptographic technology or training materials for a weapons system).
- Anything that can be used for Proliferation financing-proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. ‘Dual use’ goods, technology, software, documents or diagrams which meet certain technical standards and could be used for military or civilian purposes (for example nuclear materials, chemical agents, chemical weapon precursor, electronics, computer or telecommunications equipment, sensors, lasers, machine tools, navigation and avionics equipment, marine technology or aerospace technology, biological materials and related equipment, carbon fibre, vacuum pumps, electronic components and testing equipment, ship-to-ship petroleum transfers for regions under International Sanctions, providing a designated vessel with insurance cover etc).
- Narcotics, drugs and drug paraphernalia, which include cannabis and other illegal drugs and drug accessories, including herbal drugs like salvia and magic mushrooms.
- Prescription drugs or herbal drugs of any kind requiring a prescription from online pharmacies: - which includes drugs or other Products requiring a prescription by a licensed medical practitioner.
- Government IDs or documents, which include fake IDs, passports, diplomas, and noble titles.
- Hacking and cracking materials, which include manuals, how-to guides, information, or equipment enabling illegal access to software, servers, websites, or other protected property.
- Traffic devices, which include radar detectors, jammers, license plate covers, traffic signal changers, and related products.
- Pyrotechnic devices, combustibles, corrosives, and hazardous materials, which include explosives, fireworks, and related goods; toxic, flammable, and radioactive materials and substances.
- Illegal downloads of movies, music, computer video games and software, which are subject to copyrights.
- Copyright unlocking devices, which include Mod-chips or other devices designed to circumvent copyright protection, cable descramblers and black boxes which include devices intended to obtain cable and satellite signals for free. Software, hardware, or other downloads with potential copyright issues.
- Counterfeit and unauthorized goods, which includes replicas or imitations of designer goods; items without a celebrity endorsement that would normally require such an association; fake autographs, counterfeit stamps, and other potentially unauthorized goods. transactions involving intellectual property or trademark infringement.
- Illegal Tobacco and cigarettes, which includes cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and related products (also includes illegal e-cigarettes or vaping devices).
- Illegal Wildlife Trade. Live animals or hides, skins, teeth, nails and other parts of animals, ivory or other items related to protected species, or other items of archaeological, historical, cultural, or religious significance or of rare scientific value.
- Endangered species, which includes plants, animals, or other organisms (including Product derivatives) in danger of extinction.
- Unregulated financial or investment services, alternative banking platforms (ABP) outside of the regulated banking sector, like hawala etc.
- Pyramid marketing schemes or any type of get-rich-quick schemes (unregulated investment schemes).
- Unregulated Crypto or virtual currencies, like Bitcoins etc.
- Multi-Level Marketing and bulk marketing tools, which include email lists, software, or other Products enabling unsolicited email messages (i.e. Spam).
- Illicit trade-in of antiquities and archaeological artefacts and cultural objects.
- Diamond or Precious Metal Investment or dealership (gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium etc) which may be connected to slavery abroad (‘blood diamonds’), sanctions, crime, terrorist financing or potential money laundering.
- Shell companies, with beneficial owners in tax havens, countries with high levels of corruption or countries, where terrorist organisations operate.
- Illegal or unregulated gambling, casinos or betting.
- Illicit oil and gas commodity trading, which includes products, services or persons and companies, subject to sanctions.
- Any other Product or Service, which is not in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations whether local or international or either Opal Transfer or the payment gateway facilitators, is detrimental to the image and interests of any of them, as communicated by any of them to Merchant from time to time.