What is a sanctions list?
A sanctions list is a register maintained by governments or international bodies identifying individuals, entities, vessels, and countries subject to economic restrictions. Screening customers against these lists is a core AML obligation for all regulated businesses, including non-financial institutions.
Major global sanctions lists
Most firms need to consider four main sanctions lists.
OFAC SDN list
The US Treasury's primary sanctions list. See SDN List for details.
EU consolidated list
Aggregates all restrictive measures adopted by the EU Council.
UN Security Council list
The baseline list that all UN member states are obligated to implement.
UK Sanctions List
The UK’s own list since Brexit, published by the FCDO. It replaced OFSI’s Consolidated List in January 2026.
Screening requirements
Regulated businesses must screen customers at onboarding and on an ongoing basis as lists are updated. FirmScreen aggregates all major lists into a single screening operation with fuzzy matching to catch name variants. See our global sanctions landscape guide for detailed list comparisons.
Related terms