The U.S. government's decision to blacklist several Russians and Ukrainians in response to Russia's takeover of Crimea may well spark a tit-for-tat sanctions exchange with Russia that will leave some banks scrambling to determine their exposure to targeted parties and uncover murky financial linkages, said panelists at an anti-money laundering conference in Hollywood, Florida. "I think this may one of the very first times that the U.S. government has actually implemented sanctions against, or that implicate, another country that can actually bite back," said Bill Fox, managing director of Bank of America's global financial crimes compliance operation. "That could escalate real quickly and I think that's the real risk here. "It will be uncharted waters, frankly." Economic powers such as Russia traditionally have not been the targets of U.S. sanctions, so some banks may have been caught unprepared when the White House began making threats and then acted on them, the sources said. The
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