US Treasury Removes 84 Individuals and Entities From Sanctions List in Modernisation Drive

July 28, 2026
By Mintesinot Nigussie

The US Department of the Treasury has removed 84 individuals and entities from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List as part of efforts to modernise the country’s sanctions regime and improve compliance processes. The action, announced by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), also updated identifying information for 22 existing list entries to make sanctions screening more efficient for financial institutions and other entities responsible for compliance.

The individuals and entities removed from the SDN List were assessed as no longer representing US national security or foreign policy priorities. They include deceased individuals, defunct entities and targets that were sanctioned more than two decades ago and lacked sufficient identifying information for effective compliance screening. OFAC said the removals followed an interagency review process to ensure that delisting would not undermine US foreign policy or national security interests.

The move is the second major action under the Treasury’s sanctions modernisation initiative announced by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in May. The initiative aims to ensure sanctions remain targeted, effective and aligned with US economic, foreign policy and national security objectives. “As Secretary Bessent has outlined, the goal of Treasury’s sanctions modernization effort is to ensure U.S. sanctions remain targeted, effective, and aligned with U.S. economic, foreign policy, and national security priorities,” OFAC said.

The Treasury said the review has focused on older sanctions entries, which often lack the detailed identifying information now included in newer sanctions designations. In some cases, OFAC determined that adding information such as dates and places of birth, nationality, gender and identification numbers would be more appropriate than removing entries. The latest action also addressed duplicate records within OFAC’s sanctions lists. The agency removed duplicate entries covering 18 sets of individuals or property and updated related identifying information.

OFAC said the integrity of the sanctions system depends not only on the ability to designate individuals, entities and property, but also on removing entries when appropriate and consistent with the law. As part of the broader modernisation effort, OFAC launched an online reconsideration portal on June 29, 2026, allowing authorised representatives to submit requests for removal of individuals or property from US sanctions lists through a streamlined process. The Treasury said the reforms are intended to improve the effectiveness of sanctions enforcement while reducing unnecessary compliance burdens for financial institutions and businesses.

Source: FSX Business News