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Banks Draw Scrutiny When They Confuse Rejection and Blocking Orders: OFAC Official
By Colby Adams
printThe U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions enforcement arm has been increasingly looking at the compliance programs of banks that confuse transactional rejection and blocking orders, an official said Thursday. The mix-ups, which are often identified through errors on blocking and rejection reports filed by the institutions, can lead to sanctions officials taking a closer look at banks' compliance programs, said Michael Dondarski, a compliance review coordinator with the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). "When we see banks blocking funds transfers that are, for example, referencing vessels, when the guidance says to simply reject those transactions, that raises some alarms...
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