Mr. Sanctions

Category: Administrative & Technical Updates

Welcome to the 21st century, OFAC!

Launch of Voluntary Self-Disclosure Portal

To further improve customer service, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is launching a new online Voluntary Self-Disclosure Portal. This portal provides a streamlined, secure method for submitting voluntary self-disclosures of potential violations of OFAC-administered sanctions programs. By transitioning to this online system, OFAC aims to increase efficiency and transparency for persons submitting information, enabling faster acknowledgment of submissions, clearer communication throughout the review process, and a more user-friendly experience overall. OFAC strongly encourages parties to begin submitting voluntary self-disclosures through the new online portal.

A little bit of snark on a Friday afternoon never hurt no one…

February 6, 2026

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Administrative & Technical Updates, OFAC (US), Voluntary Self-Disclosure (VSD)
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Last week, I had the honor of being interviewed by Louie Vargas, the founder of the Network for Financial Crime Prevention (NFCP). And, if you can spare less than an hour of your day, you can listen to The Man, The Myth, The Sanctions: A Love Story on some of your favorite podcast platforms:

Podcast Episode on YouTube

Podcast Episode on Apple Podcasts

February 2, 2026

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Administrative & Technical Updates, Education & Events

Ah, the paperwork was not quite done over at OFSI…

UK Sanctions List: Regime pages for lists of designations and sanctions notices

Announcement:

Following the closure of the OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets, new regime pages have been created to host future sanctions notices.

These notices will cover all changes to designations made under each regime on the UK Sanctions List. The old financial sanctions regime pages will remain available for reference, but will no longer be updated with new sanctions notices.

You can find all new regime pages on Current UK sanctions regimes. Links to each individual regime page are as follows:

Regimes listed by country

Afghanistan: list of designations and sanctions notices
Bosnia and Herzegovina: list of designations and sanctions notices
Central African Republic: list of designations and sanctions notices
Counter terrorism: list of designations and sanctions notices
Counter-terrorism (international): list of designations and sanctions notices
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: list of designations and sanctions notices
Democratic Republic of the Congo: list of designations and sanctions notices
Guinea: list of designations and sanctions notices
Haiti: list of designations and sanctions notices
Iran (nuclear): list of designations and sanctions notices
Iran: list of designations and sanctions notices
Iraq: list of designations and sanctions notices
Lebanon (Assassination of Rafiq Hariri and others): list of designations and sanctions notices
Libya: list of designations and sanctions notices
Mali: list of designations and sanctions notices
Myanmar: list of designations and sanctions notices
Nicaragua: list of designations and sanctions notices
Republic of Belarus: list of designations and sanctions notices
Republic of Guinea Bissau: list of designations and sanctions notices
Russia: list of designations and sanctions notices
Somalia: list of designations and sanctions notices
South Sudan: list of designations and sanctions notices
Sudan: list of designations and sanctions notices
Syria: list of designations and sanctions notices
Venezuela: list of designations and sanctions notices
Yemen: list of designations and sanctions notices
Zimbabwe: list of designations and sanctions notices

Regimes listed by theme

Chemical weapons: list of designations and sanctions notices
Counter terrorism: list of designations and sanctions notices
Counter-terrorism (international): list of designations and sanctions notices
Cyber: list of designations and sanctions notices
Global anti-corruption: list of designations and sanctions notices
Global human rights: list of designations and sanctions notices
Global irregular migration and trafficking in persons: list of designations and sanctions notices
ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida: list of designations and sanctions notices
Unauthorised drilling activities: list of designations and sanctions notices – GOV.UK

A guidance page is available to describe the recent changes

The UK Sanctions List from FCDO lists which people, entities and ships are designated or specified under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, and why.

Find out more about UK Sanctions and how to contact us here: UK sanctions – GOV.UK

This is a joint announcement from:

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office // Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation // Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation

February 2, 2026

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Administrative & Technical Updates, OFSI (UK)

January 28, 2026: It’s official – two lists enter, one list leaves (with apologies to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome)

Moving to a single list for UK sanctions designations – 28 January 2026

Announcement:
As of 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 28 January 2026 the OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets and its search tool are now closed. It will remain available for reference but will no longer be updated.

The UK Sanctions List is the only source for all UK sanctions designations. No changes have been made to the structure of the current UK Sanctions List. A format guide for the UK Sanctions List is available, which includes mappings to the fields on the OFSI Consolidated List.

What has changed:
The UK Sanctions List search tool has been improved, implementing fuzzy logic search and ranking of search results by relevancy.

The ‘Russia: list of persons named in relation to financial and investment restrictions’ has been moved to a new page with a simplified table. The list will continue to be separate and has not been merged into the UK Sanctions List.

A new set of regime pages to hold future sanctions notices has been created. These are available from the Current UK sanctions regimes collection page.

A guidance page is available to describe all changes.

The UK Sanctions List from FCDO lists which people, entities and ships are designated or specified under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, and why.

The OFSI Consolidated List from HMT provides information relating to asset freeze and investment ban targets across all financial sanctions regimes implemented in the UK. This list will close at 09:00GMT on Wednesday 28 January 2026. Guidance has been published to help you prepare for the change.

Find out more about UK Sanctions and how to contact us here: UK sanctions – GOV.UK

This is a joint announcement from:

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office // Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation // Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation

January 30, 2026

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Administrative & Technical Updates, OFSI (UK)
Did you forget? UK Government is making sure you didn’t

Reminder of change

In less than a week the OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets is closing.

From 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 28 January 2026 the UK Sanctions List will be the only source for all UK sanctions designations. There will be no changes to the structure of the current UK Sanctions List.

You should use this period to prepare any systems for the formal closure of the OFSI Consolidated List.

A guidance page is available to help you prepare for the change, with a supporting webinar recording.

A format guide for the UK Sanctions List is available, which includes mappings to the fields on the OFSI Consolidated List.

Communications:

Guidance Page
UKSL Format Guide

The UK Sanctions List from FCDO lists which people, entities and ships are designated or specified under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, and why.

The OFSI Consolidated List from HMT provides information relating to asset freeze and investment ban targets across all financial sanctions regimes implemented in the UK. This list will close at 09:00GMT on Wednesday 28 January 2026. Guidance has been published to help you prepare for the change.

Find out more about UK Sanctions and how to contact us here: UK sanctions – GOV.UK

This is a joint announcement from:

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office // Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation // Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation

January 23, 2026

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Administrative & Technical Updates, Designations, OFSI (UK)

OFSI thinks you can’t be reminded enough

In two weeks’ time, the OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets is closing. From 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 28 January 2026 the UK Sanctions List will be the only source for all UK sanctions designations. There will be no changes to the structure of the current UK Sanctions List.You should use this period to prepare any systems for the formal closure of the OFSI Consolidated List.The 17 December 2025 webinar to explain the move to a single list for UK sanctions designations is now available as a recording. Slides are available on the guidance page.In December, the guidance page was also updated to include additional information:A section on ‘Russia: list of persons named in relation to financial and investment restrictions’A ‘Checklist’ of actions to takeWe also published a new format guide for the UK Sanctions List, which includes mappings to the fields on the OFSI Consolidated List.

Communications:

Webinar Recording

Updated Guidance Page

UKSL Format Guide

January 14, 2026

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Administrative & Technical Updates, OFSI (UK)

Is this blog NSFW now?

I am probably hitting up a pop culture reference many of you are too young to remember, but I’m taking Gemini’s advice and adding a category for posts about the functional challenges of screening and screening systems, as well as some commentary on how sanctions information is organized (and how it could be improved).

I’ve decided to name it “Behind the Screen Door”, an homage to the notorious film of a similar name starring the former Ivory Soap Girl, Marilyn Chambers.

and, because you know… sanctions screening?

The posts will be prefaced with the category name to highlight them within the chronological feed. After we have a few, I may add a link to the posts rather than making you choose it from the category drop-down.

December 23, 2025

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Administrative & Technical Updates, Behind the Screen Door

A reminder about the “one UK Sanctions List to rule them all” – plus some added value

Moving to a single list for UK sanctions designations – 28 January 2026The OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets is closing. From 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 28 January 2026 the UK Sanctions List will be the only source for all UK sanctions designations. There will be no changes to the structure of the current UK Sanctions List.

You should use this period before January 2026 to prepare any systems for the formal closure of the OFSI Consolidated List.

The 17 December webinar to explain the move to a single list for UK sanctions designations is now available as a recording. Slides are available on the guidance page.

The guidance page has some new information:
– new section on ‘Russia: list of persons named in relation to financial and investment restrictions
– ’new ‘Checklist’ of actions to take

We have also published a new format guide for the UK Sanctions List, which includes mappings to the fields on the OFSI Consolidated List.

Updated Guidance

December 17 Webinar Recording

December 23, 2025

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Administrative & Technical Updates, OFSI (UK)

Industry Event Calendar set up

I’ve gone out looking for sanctions, export control and general financial crime conferences that already had set dates and times. Ditto for webinars – although these tend to be things that come over the transom.

I’ve included events on general topics like training and reputational risk. What I have left out are purely AML or anti-bribery and corruption topics – like SAR writing or CDD/EDD.

Because these include events from providers who provide lots of events – like NielsonSmith and American Conference Institute – there’s a lot here. And, because I only get invites to webinars from a small number of industry vendors, this calendar could undoubtedly use more content.

I should note that there are notable omissions because the events haven’t yet been scheduled – like this year’s ABA/ABA Financial Crime Enforcement Conference, or ACAMS The Assembly Las Vegas.

I will check back every month or two to add new items to the calendar and, as I notice it, add locations to items that don’t currently have any.

So… please either comment here or use the Contact Us form to let me know how we could improve the calendar.

December 22, 2025

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Administrative & Technical Updates, Education & Events
Upcoming Industry Events (while my calendar is kaput)
Google has disabled my Mr. Sanctions account, which locks me out of the calendar. In the meantime, here’s info on a few upcoming events that recently hit my inbox (titles all link to registration pages, unless otherwise noted):

Beyond the Bill of Lading: Operationalizing Import Transshipment Detection for Proactive Compliance

Event Type: Webinar

Date/Time: January 8, 2026, 10 AM EST

Provider: Sayari

In Conversation with FINTRAIL: FinCrime Priorities for 2026

Event Type: Webinar

Date/Time: January 21, 2026, 9 AM EST

Provider: FINTRAIL

Google says the appeals process takes 2 business days. If somehow I don’t prevail, I will create a new calendar under my other Gmail account, and figure out how I want to use email for this site (the Contact page and my inbounds from regulators).
December 19, 2025

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Administrative & Technical Updates, Industry Events

Category: Administrative & Technical Updates

Launch of Voluntary Self-Disclosure Portal

UK Sanctions List: Regime pages for lists of designations and sanctions notices

Moving to a single list for UK sanctions designations – 28 January 2026