Wise breached Russia sanctions with £250 payment, says OFSI

The UK government announced on Thursday that financial services firm Wise Payments had violated Russia sanctions regulations in June last year.

According to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), Wise Payments had itself reported a suspected breach involving a cash withdrawal of £250.

Reuters reported that the transaction took place the day after the individual involved had been designated by authorities.

It said the funds were made available to a company owned or controlled by the designated person, constituting a breach of the sanctions in place against Russia.

OFSI said in a statement that it did not assess the breach as sufficiently serious to impose a monetary penalty on Wise.

“However, the nature and circumstances of this breach were assessed as moderately severe and in OFSI’s judgement a disclosure is the appropriate and proportionate enforcement response.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.