U.S. Treasury removes 125 sanctions list entries in OFAC modernization push

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OFAC sanctions modernization

Highlights

U.S. Treasury’s OFAC removed 125 individuals and entities from sanctions lists and updated 22 entries as part of a modernization effort.
Removals include deceased individuals, defunct companies, and entries lacking sufficient identification, following an interagency review ensuring no harm to U.S. interests.
OFAC’s actions aim to reduce false positives and compliance burdens for financial institutions, while introducing a Reconsideration Portal for streamlined delisting petitions.

Sanctions review and list cleanup

As reported by U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, is taking what it describes as another major step in the sanctions modernization effort announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in May. The action removes 125 individuals and entities from OFAC sanctions lists and updates 22 entries to improve compliance screening.

Those removed include deceased individuals, defunct companies and entries that lack enough identifying information for robust screening. Treasury says the delistings follow an interagency review designed to ensure the removals do not harm U.S. foreign policy or national security interests.

The department says the broader review is intended to keep sanctions targeted and effective rather than measuring success only by the number of names added to a list. It also points to a September 18 action removing sanctions on six individuals and entities tied to a 2021 Ethiopia-related national emergency, after the administration determined that program no longer needed to advance U.S. interests.

Compliance burden and reconsideration process

Treasury says incomplete or outdated sanctions entries can produce false positive matches in private-sector screening systems, forcing financial institutions and businesses to spend more time on manual reviews. By adding new identifiers and removing outdated ones, OFAC says it is reducing compliance burdens and allowing investigations to focus more closely on current national security priorities.

The agency also says sanctions reconsideration is part of maintaining the credibility of the system, alongside its authority to impose designations. Treasury highlights its recently released Reconsideration Portal, which allows listed persons, property holders or their authorized representatives to submit delisting petitions and request certain information underlying sanctions determinations.

In our earlier article, we covered the renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia and claims that pro-government forces and their allied militia had taken control of Mekelle after a TPLF withdrawal. We noted that the escalation risked undermining Ethiopia’s economic outlook and raising wider security tensions across the Horn of Africa amid competing allegations of outside involvement.

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