MFSA Notice to Financial Services Licence Holders - National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (USA)

Date: 25th January, 2012

The MFSA has today issued a Notice to the attention of all financial services licence holders, in particular to credit and financial institutions, on the enactment by the United States of America of the ‘National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012’ on 31 December 2011.

Section 1245 of this Act (for ease of reference, the full text of the Act can be obtained from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540enr.pdf ) introduces measures directed at foreign financial institutions which knowingly facilitate significant transactions with the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian financial institutions designated by the US Treasury. Foreign financial institutions in breach of such measures will not be allowed access to the US financial system.

This measure is in addition to the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA) as described in MFSA notice with Ref: 51-2011 of 11 November 2011. It should be noted that unlike the United Nations and European Union sanctions, the provisions of Section 1245, and other US sanctions against Iran are not directly binding on Maltese institutions. Nevertheless, licence holders are strongly encouraged to take these provisions into consideration during the conduct of their business activities in view of the wide ranging applicability of these measures and the risk of significant financial actions which may have serious implications on their business activities.

For more information about the Notice, please view the following link.