What the OFAC SDN list covers
The United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) publishes the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. Listed subjects include individuals, companies and other entities. OFAC also maintains additional sanctions lists that require separate screening. This tool currently indexes the SDN list only, not every OFAC list.
A practical screening sequence
Confirm the legal name and any legitimate trading names. Run a first-pass search, review names and aliases, and then corroborate against identification details and the official OFAC entry. For company onboarding, also examine ownership and control where relevant. Record the data date and the decision maker.
What a no-match result means
A search returning no candidates only means the entered name was not identified in the datasets and matching method shown at that moment. It does not establish that a person is not sanctioned, that related parties are clear or that a company meets AML/KYC requirements.
Confirm findings at the source
Review the official OFAC Sanctions List Service before any regulatory decision. Sanctions change, transliterations differ, and many individuals share names. Escalate ambiguous potential matches to an appropriately qualified compliance professional.
Frequently asked questions
Is an OFAC name search sufficient for KYC?
No. Screening is one component of a risk-based KYC and AML process. Identity, ownership, geography and applicable law also matter.
Does this tool include OFAC non-SDN lists?
No. Initial coverage is the OFAC SDN list and the UN Security Council Consolidated List, when the data feeds are successfully loaded.
Can an exact name match be a false positive?
Yes. Identical names do not prove identical persons or entities. Verify identifiers and official records.
US Treasury OFAC Sanctions List Service · UN Security Council Consolidated List