Sabre Corp's UK unit hit with $1.3 million fine over Russia sanctions breach

June 17 (Reuters) - Britain on Wednesday imposed a record £1 million ($1.3 million) penalty on Sabre Corp's UK unit for breaching financial sanctions against Russia in place since the invasion of Ukraine.

• The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) imposed the fine after Sabre Global Technologies continued to provide Russian carrier Ural Airlines access to its global distribution system service for seven months after sanctions were imposed by Britain in May 2022.

• Sabre, which provides software and services to travel companies, explored alternate payment avenues after payments to its UK banks were suspended, OFSI said.

• The company, which made a voluntary disclosure of its breaches, also asked Ural to send a test payment to one of its non-UK bank accounts intended for future settlements, the agency added.

• "We do not expect this matter to materially affect operations or strategic direction. Our focus has been on addressing the issue and further strengthening our sanctions compliance framework," a Sabre spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.

• Britain, the U.S., the European Union and others have imposed sanctions in response to the invasion. Britain has sanctioned more than 3,000 individuals, entities and ships.

• "That is a warning to software, data, travel and aviation platform businesses that sanctions risk does not stop at bank accounts. If a designated person can use your service to maintain operations or generate revenue, OFSI may treat that as a sanctioned asset," said Syed Rahman, a partner at law firm Rahman Ravelli.

• Britain fined Deutsche Bank's London branch £165,000 in May and Apple's Irish unit £390,000 in March for breaches of Russian financial sanctions.

($1 = 0.7457 pounds)

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru and Kirstin Ridley in London; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Harikrishnan Nair and Mark Potter)