Are You Checking OFAC and SDN Lists Before Transacting Business with Your Vendors?
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals, threats to national security, foreign policy or the economy of the United States.
Many of the sanctions are based on United Nations and other international mandates, are multilateral in scope and involve close cooperation with allied governments.
Sanctioned organizations, companies and individuals are listed on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list and many other lists. Often companies and non-profit organizations are not aware that they are breaking laws by doing business with people or organizations on these lists and don’t check their vendors against them. As a result, many companies and non-profits, large and small, are fined for inadvertently transacting business with U.S. sanctioned organizations. Companies slapped with steep fines — many in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and even multi-million-dollar range — usually had no idea that their supplier was on one of these lists.
According to the Treasury Department’s website, in 2017 OFAC levied $2 million in fines against ExxonMobil Corporation for violations of § 589.201 of the Ukraine-Related Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 589 (Ukraine-Related Sanctions Regulations).
According to OFAC’s website, as of September 19, 2017, OFAC reached settlements totaling $24,601,763 with numerous companies which included:
- Blue Sky Blue Sea, Inc. ($518 thousand)
- CSE Global Limited and CSE TransTel Pte. Ltd ($12 million)
- American International Group, Inc. ($148.7 thousand)
- American Honda Finance Corporation ($87 thousand)
- TD Bank ($516 thousand)
Learn how VendorInfo helps companies and non-profits verify their vendors against OFAC and other critical watch lists. Call (678) 335-5735 today or request more information.
Related Articles
Explore more insights, strategies, and perspectives related to this topic.
Need Help? We’ve got you covered
Explore answers to common queries and get the information you need from the experts at Financial Operations Networks.
Financial Operations Networks (FON) is a financial operations company whose products help accounts payable teams prevent payment fraud: VendorInfo, a vendor portal; InvoiceInfo, a supplier portal; DisbursementControls.com, a membership resource for disbursement controls; and VIMCOE, which provides accounts payable certification. FON is a Nacha Preferred Partner.
FON strengthens front-line control points across vendor onboarding, supplier maintenance, and payments — verifying vendor information, validating bank account ownership, running compliance checks, and reducing exposure to business email compromise (BEC) before payments are made.
VendorInfo is a vendor portal for onboarding: it verifies tax IDs, screens OFAC and validates bank account ownership before a vendor is paid. InvoiceInfo is a supplier portal for after the invoice: suppliers look up invoice status, payment dates and remittance advice themselves instead of emailing AP. Both sit on top of the same ERP and are often used together.
Yes. FON offers specialized programs including the AP Payment Fraud Prevention Certification and the Accredited Vendor Information Professional (AVIP) Certification to help finance professionals strengthen expertise and advance their careers.
Request a demo and our team will walk you through how FON can strengthen your controls, reduce fraud exposure, and improve AP efficiency based on your organization’s goals.
Our team is happy to help. Reach out and we’ll get back to you quickly.
Talk to our teamBrowse every FAQ