Frequently Asked Questions
What is SDN and OFAC?
Last Updated 8 years ago
SDN stands for 'Specially Designated National'.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department charged with planning and execution of economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. Under Presidential national emergency powers, OFAC carries out its activities against foreign states as well as a variety of problematic organizations and individuals, like terrorist groups, deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security. OFAC publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.
As with UK Sanctions, the flag is matched purely based on the name of the subject of the search (not the address), and in most cases upon investigation will not be the same entity, but we flag the match to allow a company's MLRO to investigate further by referring to the data provided by the Treasury and ensuring there really is no match. The match is done using best match fuzzy logic, so could easily match the name 'John Smith' to 'Johnathon Smith', 'John William Smith' and (particularly for non-European names) to 'Smith John'.
You can look at the current SDN list here: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department charged with planning and execution of economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. Under Presidential national emergency powers, OFAC carries out its activities against foreign states as well as a variety of problematic organizations and individuals, like terrorist groups, deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security. OFAC publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.
As with UK Sanctions, the flag is matched purely based on the name of the subject of the search (not the address), and in most cases upon investigation will not be the same entity, but we flag the match to allow a company's MLRO to investigate further by referring to the data provided by the Treasury and ensuring there really is no match. The match is done using best match fuzzy logic, so could easily match the name 'John Smith' to 'Johnathon Smith', 'John William Smith' and (particularly for non-European names) to 'Smith John'.
You can look at the current SDN list here: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx