OFAC & FinCEN Definitions
The https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/office-of-foreign-assets-control-sanctions-programs-and-information (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries and regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United Statesprovides financial institutions with lists of individuals and entities with sanctions against them. This list is updated regularly and does not have set release dates. The OFAC restrictions do not apply to past activities, such as completed transactions and closed accounts. Instead, the restrictions apply to current or ongoing activity. The Department of the Treasury puts out a list of OFAC files regularly.
The https://www.fincen.gov/ (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.(FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.
Note: The difference between OFAC and FinCEN is that the OFAC search is a point in time or “snapshot” look only. This is because OFAC requires that you not transact business with individuals and businesses during the time they are on the OFAC list. FinCEN requires a one-time search against all of the bank's customers for the prior 12 months.
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Tip: The clients must be verified FinCen provides an updated list every 2 weeks. Financial institutions must review account activity over the past 12 months and transactions over the last 6 months. FinCEN requires financial institutions to report any activity by individuals or entities on the provided list.
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Tip: Clients must be verified on against these lists based on their names, SSN, addresses, etc. The responsible person has to check them on the regular basis. |
Overview
Image RemovedImage AddedjCore reviews the data files from OFAC and FinCen. It flags any client records that match. You can upload OFAC and FinCEN data on the SFTP site, and then download them to the Jacomo. The Standard Usage section describes the basics of using the OFAC and FinCEN data for checking and matching the data. The For Advanced Users section contains information for specific users.
To access the OFAC & FinCEN monitor, click the Compliance tab (1), then click on OFAC & FinCEN (2). The OFAC & FinCEN monitor allows you to view and confirm verification resultsverify matches, as well as add notes and make decisions about the clients.
Basic Usage
This section describes how to verify OFAC and FinCEN results against the data entered in the jCore system.
In On the Main tab, you can specify parameters: what you want to check and in what period. The results are displayed in the table below. In this table, you You can verify the results and make notes.
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To check the clients, select the parameters (1): Last Name, First Name | Enter |
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the a client’s Last name and First Name | : if you want to check a particular client (leave empty for all). Tip |
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Tip: To search across all clients, leave these fields empty. |
| Match Source | Select |
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All, FinCEN, or OFAC.the list(s) you want to review. | Status | Select |
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All, Approved Matches, or Unapproved Matchesan option to see matches in a particular status. All
Approved Matches
Unapproved Matches
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Definitions: Approved Matches are clients that someone reviewed and confirmed are not a match. Unapproved Matches have not been reviewed. |
| Check Date From, Check Date To |
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Specify the period of the check dates. The system loads the files inside this period. The check results show all clients who are being tested during this periodThe system displays results that it checked during the specified time frame. | Match Date From, Match Date To |
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Specify the period of the match dates. loads the files inside this period. Match dates show just differences in the records. These are important and need to be investigateddisplays results that it matched during the specified time frame. Note: Match dates shows differences between the OFAC/FinCEN records and jCore records. | Approved Date From, Approved Date To |
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Specify the period of the approval dates, if you are looking for approvals only. The system loads the files inside this periodThe system displays results that were approved during the specified time frame. |
Click FILTER (2). Tip |
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Tip: Enter Check, Match, and Approve From Dates that are before the most recent OFAC & FinCen files. You can leave the Check, Match, and Approve To Date fields blank. However, to view historical data, you need to include From and To dates. |
Double-click on the client a result to view the information of for the selected client. Note: You can also single click, then click Detail. Info |
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Information: To save space, the search results show only the most recent note. All notes are displayed in the Match Detail window. | Image RemovedImage AddedCompare the Reasons For Match to the actual client record. Info |
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Examples: The system matched Rod Sheila with the OFAC value Rod Ship Management Co. However, these are not the same. For the contact name Graf Henry , the first name doesn't match. For King Samuel, citizenship per OFAC is different. Moreno Daniel has a different birth date, therefore the note shows these are different people.
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Optional: You can improve the results by making notes. To add a note, select the client add notes to results. Select the client in the results list and click ADD NOTE. Tip |
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Tip: Adding notes is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended to add them for future useIf a match occurs in the future, your notes will help you approve the match more quickly. |
Confirm that the result does not match your customer. Tip |
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Not a Match: Click APPROVE only if you are sure that the note is correctthe client does not match the OFAC/FinCEN result. | Warning |
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Match: Follow your internal procedures to determine the escalation process. | Image RemovedImage AddedSee the Printing and Exporting OFAC and FinCEN Reports /wiki/spaces/DOHTS/pages/1940357125 document on how to print and export the reports. |
Getting the Data Files
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
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Log on to the US Treasury website with its credentials at SISS 314(a) Login — Secure Information Sharing System (fincen.gov) to request/download the current file. Name the file, which must be in .csv format, by the following naming conventions before uploading to sFTP, otherwise, it will not load to jCore: where * = variable that is typically a date.Store the file in the /pub/FinCen subfolder on the shared sFTP site. |
Data Load Reports
To view the dates when the information was verified with the FinCEN, click ADMIN (1) > Data Load Reports (2).Image Removed
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Select FinCEN (or OFAC).
Click FILTER.
Select the required year and month.
Click FILTER again.
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Tip: In addition, you can switch between the source if necessary. |
Cells with blue links show the dates when files were loaded. Click on the link to see the details.
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The following tables show the summary information, as well as databases by types and recent changes.
Note: Confirm that there were zero records with errors.