On 11 May 2022, Harneys and the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEB) hosted the joint webinar “Russian Sanctions: Understanding the Impact”. The panel consisted of our Global Head of Regulatory Aki Corsoni-Husain, our Senior Associate Elina Mantrali and Partner George Apostolou as chair.

The webinar provided an overview of the regimes for restrictive measures (sanctions) globally and of the implementation in Cyprus of sanctions issued by the European Commission on Russia in light of the ongoing situation in Ukraine, with an in-depth focus on the measures affecting the financial and corporate services industries in Cyprus.

Our lawyers provided thorough guidance on EU asset freezes on Russian companies and individuals, and among others, on the following EU sectoral and trade sanctions on Russia:

• Bank account restrictions
• Prohibition on sale of shares
• The SWIFT ban, and
• The prohibition on trust services

The presentation also included a review of measures available for exemptions and related procedures with the competent authorities. Lastly, our lawyers provided practical examples, which members of OEB can relate to in their ordinary course of business i.e. status of nominee arrangements and acting as secretary for an entity subject to the asset freezes, and how these should be dealt with to protect their businesses and customers.

A Q&A session followed after the presentation.

The slides and the presentation can be found here.