The Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Monday that it is amending several of its frequently asked questions as part of its ongoing process of reviewing published guidance to ensure the information remains current. The amended questions are numbers 10, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 41, 42, 49, 50 and 53. The batch covers two topic areas: blocking and rejecting transactions, and filing reports with OFAC.
The distinction the guidance polices is the one compliance teams apply thousands of times a day. Where a blocked person has an interest in a transaction, the funds must be blocked and held. Where a transaction is prohibited for United States persons but no blocked person has an interest in it, the transaction should be rejected and returned to the originator, and rejected transactions must not be processed forward to the beneficiary. OFAC’s guidance also addresses false positive matches, where a name resembles a listed person but the identifying information does not match, and the due diligence an institution may need before acting.
No person or company was designated in this action, and no programme’s prohibitions changed. What changed is the reference text that banks, correspondent banks and payment processors cite when they freeze funds, return payments or file blocked property reports. Guidance refreshes of this kind matter because sanctions liability is strict: an institution that processes a transaction it should have blocked, or blocks one it should have rejected, creates legal exposure either way, and the amended answers are now the version examiners will read it against.