Sanctions Evasion Rules for Banks - Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists

Sanctions Evasion Rules for Banks

August 6, 2026 | 08:00 AM – 09:15 AM NYC

ACSS Webinar

CSS Credits: 1.25

Duration:

75 minutes

Speakers:

  • Sarah Travers | Royal Bank of Canada
  • Marar, Alexander | Royal Bank of Canada

Moderator:

Ivy Llena, Learning and Development Manager, ACSS

Date:

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Time:

  • 08:00 AM – 09:15 AM NYC
  • 01:00 PM – 02:15 PM London
  • 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM Amsterdam

Description:

Sanctions evasion schemes represent a major threat to the international financial system and increasingly have been an area of focus for international regulators. The Financial Action Task Force also highlights complex proliferation financing and sanctions evasion schemes, where sanctions evasion can be linked to procurement of weapons of mass destruction of sanctioned states, and more recently are connected to the evasion of Russian sanctions and even sanctions against drug cartels.

In this webinar, we will be discussing the landscape we are currently working in with respect to the monitoring and detecting of sanctions evasions, the challenges of the regulatory landscape, some real life examples of sanctions evasion cases and the red flags detected and how new tools and technological developments can assist with the prevention and detection of sanctions evasion.

Certificate of Attendance:

All active ACSS members will be able to download the certificate from the Learning Management System (under the achievements tab). 

Event Registration

Members of the Association

This webinar is included in your membership
and you will be sent login details by email a
day before the webinar.

If you would like to register for the webinar
in advance, so that it is entered into your calendar.

Non Members of the Association

You must be a member in order to attend this webinar.

To learn about ACSS membership, click here.

 

 

Speakers

Sarah Travers

Regional Head of Sanctions and ABAC -UK, Europe and APAC
Royal Bank of Canada
Sarah Travers is the Regional Head of Sanctions and ABAC providing coverage for UK, Europe and APAC.  Sarah has over 20 years’ experience in financial crime, within law enforcement and the private sector, including roles at Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie and BAML and has worked for RBC for the last 9 years. Sarah is a member of the UK Finance Sanctions Committee and Deputy Chair of the UK Finance International Corruption Steering Group. Sarah has also worked with the IMF on Technical Assistance Missions and FATF assisting with drafting the Guidance on the Risk-Based Approach for Casinos

Marar, Alexander

Director, Sanctions Evasion & Trade
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)

Alexander Marar is Director, Sanctions Evasion & Trade at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). In his current role, Alexander focuses on detecting illicit networks evading sanctions and export controls, and he leads engagements with industry, law enforcement, and regulators, facilitating collaboration in support of the global sanctions regime. Alexander also advises RBC’s global businesses on compliance with sanctions evasion and export controls regulations. Alexander is a graduate of Queen’s University and the University of Windsor, and he is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), a Certified Advanced AML Audit Specialist (CAMS Audit), and an Export Compliance Professional (ECoP).

Moderator

Ivy Llena

Learning and Development Manager
ACSS

Ivy Llena has over 14 years of experience in the learning and development field, providing capacity-building and professional development programs for corporate and social service agencies in the US and the Philippines.

Before joining ACSS, she was a program director at a non-profit organization in the Philippines, where she co-designed and co-implemented economic empowerment programs and services for survivors of human trafficking and their families. Ivy also served at the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, where she led and contributed to inclusive economic growth initiatives.

Customer Testimonials

“Very good discussion. It is a difficult topic to bring everyone on board to the same page when it comes to the CACR and I felt the speakers did a good job of establishing a baseline.”

Melisa Riviere, Ph.D., CSS
Director, Custom Academic Programs,
Son Dos Alas

“The speakers were well informed and you could tell they were subject matter experts.”

Melissa Kolby, CES
Senior Global Compliance Analyst, CH Robinson

“Great info to keep in my tool bag as a financial crimefighter.”

Gary Campau
Crowe LLP

“Content was extremely important and crucial to my role. I felt it was very well put together and delivered thoughtfully and with great clarity.”

Erin Block Tomitz
USAA

“I really appreciated the detail and references
on the slides, very helpful.”

Scott Kinney, CAMS
Compliance Manager Global Sanctions Group, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

“Great job. Very informative.”

Brianna Long
Senior Compliance Analyst Compliance and Risk Investigations and Analysis, Convera

“I love your concise webinars on real-case analyses—they’re the best way to learn.”

Maja Milinkov
Team Leader of Sanctions and Embargo Unit
OTP Banka

“This webinar was realy intresting, I enjoyed it. Thank you! Hope this kind of testing you are going to provide on basis.”

Vira Nelepa
Senior Sanctions Compliance Specialist
Raiffeisen Bank (Ukraine)

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