LSEG Risk Intelligence has launched the Sanctioned Securities Data File, a dataset designed to help financial institutions identify securities that are directly or indirectly connected to sanctioned entities.
Developed in partnership with BIGTXN, it aims to provide improved clarity around sanctions compliance; the dataset suggests that while most sanctions-linked instruments are associated with explicit legal designations, approximately one-third of all sanctions-linked instruments are connected through ownership and control relationships.
By way of example, while a company may not be sanctioned itself, if a sanctioned parent owns or controls it, the securities it issues still fall within scope.
Further analysis suggests sanctions risk is embedded deeper into financial markets than is often assumed. LSEG stated that based on current platform coverage, approximately six in ten sanctions-linked instruments remain active, underlining that sanctions exposure is an ongoing operational challenge for trading, investment, and post-trade functions.
At the instrument level, sanctions impact is concentrated in the mechanisms of capital formation and corporate restructuring, with significant representation across entitlements and rights, debt instruments, and structured products, LSEG added. “This distribution reflects the way sanctions increasingly affect trading activity as well as corporate actions and financing structures.”
With ongoing growth in sanctions regimes across jurisdictions, there is a growing challenge to determine which securities traded, held or services are subject to regulation.
“The Sanctioned Securities Data File provides a systematic way to map sanctions designations to real financial instruments related to entities on the LSEG World-Check platform. Traditional list-based screening approaches often lack the granularity required to detect this exposure consistently at the instrument level,” LSEG stated.
Chris Moyser, head of Strategy at LSEG Risk Intelligence, commented: “Sanctions regimes today extend far beyond simple lists of designated names. Financial institutions need a systematic way to understand how those designations translate into real exposure across securities, ownership structures and corporate actions. The Sanctioned Securities Data File is designed to bring that clarity – helping firms identify risk that is often difficult to detect using traditional screening approaches.”
Russian-imposed measures continue to dominate the sanctions-instrument landscape. Regimes administered by the EU, US, New Zealand and Ukraine are increasing the volume of affected instruments. Multi-jurisdictional sanctions management is increasingly important.
