Co-Authored by Sharath Patil

What’s the CAPTA List?

The Correspondent Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions List (“CAPTA” List”) is a list maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). The CAPTA List identifies foreign financial institutions that are prohibited or in some way restricted from maintaining a correspondent account or a payable-through account in the United States.

A foreign financial institution is:

…any foreign entity that is engaged in the business of accepting deposits, making, granting, transferring, holding or brokering loans or credits, or purchasing or selling foreign exchange, securities, commodity futures or options, or procuring purchasers and sellers thereof, as principal or agent.

Correspondent bank accounts enable domestic banks to make payments to or receive payments from foreign banks under an agreement, and payable-through accounts are accounts through which banks located in the United States extend check-writing privileges to the customers of foreign banks. Both correspondent bank accounts and payable-through bank accounts facilitate the exchange of funds and goods between the United States and foreign countries. Certain high-risk correspondent and payable-through accounts

The CAPTA List was created on March 1, 2018 as a single consolidated list that comprises all foreign financial institutions subject to correspondent account or payable-through account sanctions. The CAPTA List replaced a number of separate lists to ease enforcement and make it convenient for market participants to vet transactions. Formerly, several lists separately identified foreign financial institutions subject to correspondent account or payable-through account sanctions based on their geographic association. For example, OFAC maintained lists of foreign financial institutions associated with North Korea, Ukraine, Iran, and Hizbillah, a terrorist group based in Lebanon. The CAPTA List specifies the specific prohibition or strict condition(s) to which the listed foreign financial institutions are subject.

Accessing the CAPTA List

The CAPTA List is accessible on the Consolidated Screening List. The CAPTA List includes the following information for each foreign financial institution included on the CAPTA List:

  • Entity Number
  • Name
  • Remarks
  • Alternative Names
  • Address

Additionally, the entire CAPTA List can be accessed in a single PDF file and in TEXT format. The CAPTA List has been subject to only limited updates in recent years.

Petitioning Removal from an OFAC List

If you believe your person or entity was improperly included on any OFAC sanctions list including the CAPTA List, OFAC has a petition process to be removed from the list. Petitions for removal should include:

  • The listed person’s name and contact person’s name and mailing address (including email address)
  • The date of the relevant OFAC listing action
  • A request for the reconsideration of OFAC’s determination, including a detailed description of why the listed person should be removed

If you require assistance requesting removal from an OFAC sanctions list, please contact us today at info@diaztradelaw.com or call us at 305-456-3830.

How We Can Help

OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. 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 States. Violations of OFAC-administered sanctions carry hefty civil and criminal penalties.

Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to be proactive about your sanctions compliance. To ensure compliance with OFAC regulations, businesses should develop and maintain a sanctions compliance plan that is thoughtful, proactive, and well-executed. While having a sanctions compliance plan is not a guarantee that a sanctions violation will not occur, a coherent sanctions compliance program can minimize the risk of non-compliance.

Diaz Trade Law’s OFAC-related services include:

  • Developing an effective sanctions compliance program:
  • Sanctions compliance training
  • Transaction vetting
  • Voluntary self-disclosures
  • Specific license applications
  • Mitigation and corrective action
  • Petitioning removal from a sanctioned list

Contact Us

If you have a question on a sanctions-related matter or any other trade or customs matter, reach out to us today at info@diaztradelaw.com or call us at 305-456-3830.

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