The USA maintains its anti-money laundering policies to combat money laundering and financial crimes. Therefore, OFAC is of great importance in the AML compliance processes of obliged individuals and organizations in the USA. Due to the ban on transactions with people and organizations on OFAC's sanction lists, companies in the USA must check the OFAC sanction list in AML control processes. Therefore, there is a natural relationship between OFAC compliance and AML compliance.
What Are The Duties and Powers of OFAC?
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC
) is the U.S. Department of Treasury's financial intelligence and enforcement agency. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) was established in 1950 to protect U.S. national security. OFAC's powers include enforcing sanctions and embargoes on countries, organizations, and individuals.
There are OFAC sanctioned countries.
US citizens and organizations must comply with OFAC, which has a wide range of powers and scope.
OFAC
publishes the
Specially Designated National (SDN)
list, which lists individuals, organizations, and ships where liable individuals and organizations are prohibited from doing business.
OFAC SDN means the list of people banned from doing business by US citizens and must comply with US regulations.
AML and OFAC Requirements
Financial institutions contain high risks in terms of financial crime due to their services. The USA has clearly stated the obligations of financial institutions with AML regulations in compliance with FATF. According to these obligations, financial institutions are obliged to make AML checks on account openings, money transfers, and private banking transactions. Companies must fulfill their Know Your Customer and Customer Due Diligence obligations when opening a customer account. The company is scanned for its new customer on the OFAC list. If the customer is detected in the OFAC list, the company cannot open an account. OFAC sanctions are updated day by day. Companies should regularly check their existing customers on the OFAC sanction list to avoid damaging AML compliance. Companies are responsible for reporting suspicious transactions to authorized units during AML checks.
Fulfill Your Requirements for OFAC and AML Regulations
OFAC sanction list is updated frequently. It is not safe to manually check the OFAC sanction list, and it is a waste of time for companies. Sanction Scanner instantly monitors Specially Designated Nationals List (OFAC SDN List), Consolidated Sanctions List, and other OFAC sanction lists. Organizations can scan their customers in the OFAC sanction lists in seconds using our Sanction & PEP Screening service. You can contact us to ensure your AML and OFAC compliance.
