New Senate Bill Targets Financial Systems That Enable Sanctions Evasion

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced a bill this week aimed at countering the use of alternative financial systems by China, Russia and other "countries of concern" to evade U.S. sanctions.

His proposed Sanctions Evasion Prevention and Mitigation Act would sanction financial institutions that use China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) or Iran’s System for Electronic Payment Messaging (SEPAM) to verify or conduct transactions.

The bill would also require the Treasury Department to write a report on CIPS, SPFS and SEPAM, including the extent of their usage and the risks that widespread adoption of such systems would pose to U.S. national security.

The legislation was referred to the Senate Banking Committee.