This class will provide participants with an essential, basic understanding of U.S. rules and regulations governing international trade. The regulations contain required (and prohibited) business conduct, with penalties for failure to comply, including fines, loss of export privileges, and even jail terms. In many cases, banks are required to police transactions they handle and report violations.

The primary focus is an in-depth look at regulations with applicability to trade services offered by banks: US sanctions enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), antiboycott regulations maintained by the US Department of Commerce, and anti-money laundering regulations found in section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act/Bank Secrecy Act (“Know Your Customer”). Although banks often lump these regulations together, what they require differs greatly: in some cases, making payment is a violation while, in others, NOT making payment is against the law; in some cases, the transaction must be reported and disclosed while, in other cases, reporting must NOT be disclosed. The target audience is bank staff, including supervisors and managers, involved in handling letters of credit, documentary collections, supply chain finance, and other trade transactions.

In order to understand their purpose, participants will learn about the origins and rationale for these regulations in addition to the requirements and penalties for noncompliance. Participants will be provided with “cheat sheets” to use in their daily jobs to identify and distinguish between transactions that are prohibited, transactions with know-your-customer requirements, transactions where assets must be frozen, and transactions that merely must be reported.

Course Objectives:

Objective #1: Recognize the circumstances under which payment of a letter of credit or documentary collection must be blocked
Objective #2: Understand whether blocking a payment exposes the bank to lawsuits for nonpayment of letters of credit it issued or confirmed
Objective #3: Review the red flags of a “suspicious” transaction that may make it reportable as potential money laundering
Objective #4: Be able to identify who the customer is in a trade transaction: When is it the importer, the exporter, or the foreign bank?
Objective #5: Learn what makes a transaction “reportable” or “prohibited” under the antiboycott regulations
Objective #6: Understand what banks are required to do in order to verify compliance with export licensing requirements (ITAR and EAR)

Course Outline:

• The intent of sanctions against “enemy” countries (e.g., the Office of Foreign Assets Control and U.N. sanctions)
• Procedures followed by banks to “filter” letter of credit and collection transactions for Specially Designated Nationals
• The intent of the anti-boycott regulations
• What banks are expected to do when confronted with an anti-boycott violation
• The intent of anti-money laundering regulations (e.g., the USA PATRIOT Act/Bank Secrecy Act)
• Identifying who the customer is in a trade transaction
• How banks are supposed to handle “suspicious” letters of credit

What You Get:

•  Training Reference Materials
•  Live Q&A with our Expert
•  Participation Certificate
•  Access to Signup Community (Optional)
•  Reward Points

Who Will Benefit:

• Bank operations staff, including supervisors and managers, involved in handling letters of credit, documentary collections, and other trade transactions
• Bank sales representatives and relationship managers who work with exporters and importers
• Bank regulatory compliance staff
• Bank risk managers
• Attorneys
• Accountants
• Exporters and Importers