Have you heard of the OFAC watch list? The Office of Foreign Assets Control is part of the Treasury Department's efforts to fight terrorism and other criminal activities. If you work in a bank, credit union, mortgage company or financial institution, you probably have heard of OFAC, because it's the Federal government's main watch list, used to block commerce with over 8,000 individuals, organizations and businesses all over the world (hundreds are found in the U.S.)
If you are in the financial services field, or if you're selling to customers outside of the U.S., you definitely should be checking the list for your customers. Being out of compliance with OFAC regulations can result in large government fines and penalties like the loss of export privileges.
The OFAC Specially Designated Nationals List (OFAC SDN list) has been in existence for a number of years, but as the government's focus on terrorism sharpened over the last seven years, the list has become more important. Most banks and credit unions check the list whenever they open a new account, for example, and some landlords go so far as to screen potential renters against the list.
If a person or organization is found on the OFAC list, no American individual or business is allowed to buy from or sell to them. In fact, it's actually illegal to even borrow from or loan to them - anyone found on the OFAC SDN list is economically isolated from the residents of the United States. Businesses with auditors and compliance requirements (like banks and credit unions) take the list very seriously.
The government frequently updates the list, which makes it difficult to track the additions and deletions of names. To solve this problem, a company called Verifilter recently released a web site that provides access to a continually updated OFAC watch list database with an easy search function. They offer a 30 day free trial of their OFAC list search service, available at http://www.Verifilter.com. The service is completely web-based and doesn't require any downloads.
Although the Treasury Department's OFAC list is the most important government watch list businesses need to be aware of, the State Department and Commerce Department also have watch lists. The Commerce Department publishes the second largest watch list, which is called the BIS DPL (Bureau of Industry and Security's Denied Persons List). Companies found on this list aren't completely prohibited like the OFAC list members, but they are restricted and usually require government permissions for certain types of commercial activities.
To learn more about OFAC regulations see the FAQ sections on http://www.Verifilter.com. The site includes links to and detailed information about the relevant government regulations.
