Financial Services Advisor

Jaime Martínez Estévez, partner at Rodner, Martínez & Asociados in Caracas: “Since the 2009 Rosemont Finance Corporation case, foreign banks’ anti-money laundering departments carefully monitor transactions related to Venezuela. Later, abuses of the Venezuelan exchange control made them further sensitive to transfers originating in Venezuela. There was a rise in the levels of alertness of these departments with the more general awareness of major and widespread corruption. Alertness has increased further since 2017 with U.S. sanctions and the growing list of the U.S. government’s specially designated nationals. Regulators’ scrutiny has also intensified over the years, as has the frequency and size of their fines. International banks have been exiting the Venezuelan market over the last 10 years and at an accelerated rate over the last three years. In line with the strategy of escalating the sanctions to induce change, the sanctions’ scope has been expanded from individuals to government entities to private enterprises, and from financial transactions to commercial transactions. Because the sanctions have not succeeded yet, it is foreseeable that…”