Sanctions rules are increasing and diverging, with new tech and volatile political relationships driving more complexity. Jamie Schafer, co-chair of the regulatory compliance and disputes practice at Ashurst Perkins Coie in Washington, D.C., explains why compliance teams must be involved at strategic and product level and where to expect new risks to emerge.

Ruth Prickett graduated from Cambridge University with a BA hons in History and has specialized in business and finance journalism for the past 20 years. She was editor of Financial Management, the magazine...