The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) published a notice on Switzerland’s implementation of an updated United Nations Haiti sanctions list through an amendment to the annex of the Ordinance of 16 December 2022 on measures concerning Haiti. The updated designations are directly applicable in Switzerland, and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has updated the SESAM sanctions database accordingly. The UN Security Council committee responsible for the regime changed the list of sanctioned persons, companies and organisations by decision of 8 July 2025, after which SECO amended SESAM and published the change on its website. Financial intermediaries are required, under the ordinance, to implement the prohibitions, freeze the assets of sanctioned persons and report affected business relationships to SECO. FINMA also highlighted that reporting to SECO does not remove the obligation to conduct additional clarifications in case of suspicion under Article 6 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and, if concerns cannot be resolved, to file a report without delay with the Money Laundering Reporting Office under Article 9.
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) 2025-07-09
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority flags updated Haiti sanctions designations and instructs intermediaries to freeze assets and report to SECO
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced Switzerland's implementation of the updated United Nations Haiti sanctions list via an amendment to the Ordinance of 16 December 2022. Financial intermediaries must enforce prohibitions, freeze assets, and report affected relationships to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). Reporting to SECO does not exempt intermediaries from further clarifications under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.