OFAC Updates: 2018 Civil Monetary Fines Increase, and Recent Actions
Should You Care?
In keeping with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (sic), the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has increased the maximum fines for civil violations. The 2015 Act’s intent was “to improve the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect.” Translation: Penalties are increased to keep pace with inflation. The latest increases amounted to approximately two percent for each of the types of fines, and became effective March 19, 2018.
Meanwhile, OFAC activity in August so far has related to Iran, North Korea and Magnitsky Act designations against two Turks. For a complete list of 2018 OFAC Actions to date, see this resource page on the U.S. Dept. of Treasury website.
Why should you keep up with OFAC? Aren’t sanctions something that only banks and insurers have to worry about? No. In fact according to SanctionsAlert.com, financial institutions average just 39. 8 percent of total OFAC enforcement actions — sizable, but by no means all.
Yes, the annual number of enforcement actions is down considerably from the anomalous early years after 9/11. Nevertheless, enforcement actions go on all the time. In assessing risk, it’s instructive to know who has gotten into trouble.
Besides financial services, the top industries running afoul of U.S. sanctions in the last few years include IT/Telecom, Medical/Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit Institutions, Offshore Services, Oil & Gas and the Professional Services sector. Others include the Airlines Industry, Electronics, Logistics & Shipping and Tourism.
To learn more about vendor verification and compliance click here to request more information or call (678) 335-5735.
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