ICA Certificate in Managing Sanctions Risk — Information & Free Practice

About ICA Certificate in Managing Sanctions Risk

ICA Certificate in Managing Sanctions Risk · GB

Key exam facts

Provider

International Compliance Association (ICA); certification awarded in association with Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.

Format

Online multiple-choice examination, available at any point during self-paced study.

Exam questions

Total questions: 25.

Time limit

One hour of examination time. Course access lasts up to two months; this is not examination time.

Passing score

ICA states a 70% minimum pass mark and requires at least 18 of 25 answers correct for Certificate and Specialist Certificate MCQ assessments.

Exam fee

UK course fee GBP 765, plus GBP 195 for 12 months of membership if not an existing ICA member; applicable taxes added at checkout. Course booking price, not a separately quoted exam-only fee.

Topics covered

• Understanding Sanctions

  • Definitions
  • What are sanctions?
  • What are they designed to achieve?
  • Why are sanctions important?
  • Measures
  • Financial
  • Non-financial
  • Programmes
  • Regime-based
  • Activity-based
  • Comprehensive

• The International Context

  • FATF
  • UN (Security Council)
  • EU Policy and Regulation
  • National governments
  • Primary legislation
  • Implementing departments, enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies
  • Focus on the US
  • OFAC
  • PATRIOT Act
  • FinCEN special measures
  • Focus on the UK
  • HMT Regime, FCO and BIS
  • FCA, JMLSG
  • Export controls
  • Impact of other bodies
  • External influences

• Defining a Sanctions Governance Framework

  • Defining roles and responsibilities
  • The importance of (group) policies and procedures
  • Culture of compliance
  • CDD
  • Individuals and entities
  • Proliferation and dual use goods
  • Recognising techniques for evasion
  • Wire transfers
  • Stripping
  • U-turns
  • Shell companies
  • Correspondent banking: know your customer’s customer

• Sanctions Lists and Screening

  • Screening systems and controls
  • Who should be screened?
  • Individuals
  • Entities
  • Identifying UBOs
  • Suppliers
  • Targeting terrorism (FATF Rec 6)
  • Who/what else should be screened?
  • Payments and transactions
  • Goods and services
  • Countries, jurisdictions, regions
  • Sensitive words, dual-use goods and noise words
  • External watch lists
  • Internal watch lists
  • Calibration
  • Fuzzy logic
  • False positives
  • Quality assurance and testing

• Managing Alert Investigations

  • The importance of good CDD and the role of the Relationship Manager
  • Identifying and evaluating sensitive sanctioned countries
  • How to discount customer alerts
  • How to discount payment alerts
  • Dealing with matches
  • Escalating true matches
  • Responding to information requests
  • Freezing assets
  • Interdictions
  • Responding to a breach
  • Quality assurance of alert investigations

• The Cost of Getting it Wrong

• The Challenges of Change

How to prepare

Work through the topics, read the explanation after each answer, and revisit the areas where you miss questions. Use the official outline and reference materials below to guide your study.

These independent practice questions are not actual exam items and do not guarantee a passing result.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources and references

• ICA Sanctions Certificate Syllabus

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• ICA Certificate in Managing Sanctions Risk

  Course format

Confirm current exam arrangements with the exam provider.