The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No 5) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/205) entered into force at 5.00 pm on 1 March 2022. These Regulations are made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 and amend the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/855) by adding new financial sanctions to the 2019 Regulations.

The amendments insert a restriction on the provision of financial services for the purposes of foreign exchange reserve and asset management involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation or persons owned or controlled by, or acting on behalf of, or at the direction of any of the above specified entities. The regulations also extend the licensing regime regarding the provision of such financial services which would otherwise be caught by the restriction in cases where there is a humanitarian need: to enable anything to be done by, or on behalf of, the FCA, the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Bank of England in pursuit of their functions, to enable anything to be done by a person, following consultation with the Bank of England, that is necessary or expedient in order to protect or enhance the stability of the UK financial system, to enable anything to be done by a person, following consultation with the relevant supervising authorities, that is necessary or expedient in order to promote the safety and soundness of a firm which is supervised by a relevant UK financial authority. Finally, licencing is also possible "to enable anything to be done to deal with an extraordinary situation".

These sanctions are broad and aim to restrict the provision of relevant financial services to these significant Russian entities. The licensing exemptions are necessary since the consequences of the imposition of the sanctions may well otherwise cause real issues with the financial stability of the UK's financial system.

Breach of any of the newly introduced sanctions amounts to a criminal offence under the 2019 Regulations.