Sanctions OFAC et Aml compliance du Trésor Américain

The United States plays an important role in the international fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes by imposing economic sanctions against countries, entities and individuals involved in these activities. US sanctions are implemented and enforced by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

What is the OFAC Sanctions List?

The OFAC Sanctions List contains information on current US sanctions targets. OFAC maintains several sanctions lists, each dealing with a group of targets. The most important sanctions lists are:

• Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List : A list of individuals and companies controlled by or acting on behalf of US sanctions countries.
• The Consolidated Sanctions List : A list containing all sanctions information that is not included in the SDN List.

Other types of sanctions lists operated by OFAC include the Sectoral Sanctions Identification List (targeting Russia), the Foreign Sanctions Fraudsters List, the more specific Palestinian Legislative Council (non-SDN) list as well than the list of sanctions against Iran. OFAC sanctions fall into two categories:

• Global Sanctions : Prohibition of any type of transaction between the United States and a sanctioned country, for example, North Korea, Syria or Sudan.
• Non-Blanket Sanctions : Limiting transactions between the United States and a specific company, individual, or sector, such as supporters or financiers of an unfriendly political regime.

Who Must Comply with OFAC Sanctions?

All obligated individuals, banks, financial services firms and other financial institutions operating within the jurisdiction of the United States must comply with OFAC sanctions. For banks and other financial service providers, this means integrating OFAC sanctions search functionality into internal AML/CFT programs and screening new clients against this OFAC list before entering into a business relationship. .

Sanctions violations are punishable by fines of up to $20 million and prison terms of up to 30 years for those involved. OFAC grants certain sanction exemptions if one makes a request to the Treasury Department .

Why is it important to have a sanctions screening tool?

Performing an OFAC sanctions search manually can be administratively difficult and inefficient. Human errors can also lead to inaccuracies and the risk of fines. Relying on an automated sanctions screening tool minimizes this risk. Indeed, filtering technology can enhance the accuracy of AML/CFT programs while helping institutions quickly and efficiently meet the compliance standards required by regulatory bodies such as OFAC.

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A sanctions screening tool should be easy to integrate and help reduce false positives.