What is OFAC?

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a division of the US Department of the Treasury that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals. OFAC maintains several sanctions lists, the most prominent being the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List.

OFAC's sanctions programmes

OFAC runs dozens of sanctions programmes, which fall into two broad types.

Country-based programmes

OFAC administers comprehensive sanctions programmes against specific countries (currently including Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, and others), restricting most economic activity with those jurisdictions.

List-based programmes

The SDN List targets specific individuals and entities regardless of their location, requiring their assets to be blocked and prohibiting US persons from dealing with them.

Extraterritorial reach

OFAC's jurisdiction extends beyond US borders due to the dominance of the US dollar in international commerce. Any transaction that touches the US financial system falls within OFAC's jurisdiction. This means UK estate agents handling USD-denominated transactions and international law firms must consider OFAC compliance even without a direct US nexus.

FirmScreen screens against OFAC's SDN List alongside UK OFSI, EU, and UN sanctions lists in a single operation. See our article on the global sanctions landscape for a detailed comparison.

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