The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday purged another 84 companies and individuals from its 17,000-plus sanctions lists as part of a broader push to streamline sanctions programs and make it easier for banks to target the most serious terrorist financing schemes. The action marks the second major step in a modernization initiative launched by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in May 2026.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed the individuals and entities from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), updating identifying information for 22 additional entries to facilitate compliance. The removals include individuals and entities no longer considered U.S. national security or foreign policy priorities, such as deceased individuals, defunct entities, and targets sanctioned more than 20 years ago.
A Push for Sanctions Modernization
The goal of the review is 'to ensure Treasury sanctions remain efficient, sharp, and focused, and to remove bloat left over from previous administrations,' a Treasury official said, noting that over 3,000 names were designated in 2024, compared to just 880 in 2017. 'Sanctions are not intended to be a forever tool,' the official added. Bessent has also repeatedly highlighted the Trump administration's willingness to impose sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies — Rosneft and Lukoil — a step the Biden administration eschewed for fear of a further surge in oil prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The latest tranche of removals includes 36 people who have died and associated listings; 33 Iraq-related entities first designated in 1991 or 1992; seven defunct or outdated narcotics listings related to Colombia; and eight disrupted narcotics kingpins. Each removal follows a review by other agencies to ensure that it would not harm U.S. foreign policy or national security interests, Treasury said, noting that names could be reinstated, as needed.
Easing Compliance Burdens
The review has focused thus far on older sanctions entries, which sometimes lack identifying information that is now routine for new sanctions actions, including place and date of birth, unique identification numbers, nationality, or gender. Adding more robust data should make compliance screening less burdensome for financial institutions. OFAC has also identified a small number of duplicate entries on its sanctions lists, where the same person or property was inadvertently included more than once under separate list entries. Treasury said 18 such sets were resolved with Monday's action.
The modernization effort is designed to ensure U.S. sanctions remain targeted, effective, and aligned with U.S. economic, foreign policy, and national security priorities. As part of this initiative, Treasury launched an online reconsideration portal on June 29, 2026, that streamlines the process for sanctioned persons or their representatives to request removal from OFAC sanctions lists. Brett Erickson, managing principal with Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the push to streamline the sanctions list made sense and would allow banks to focus on the biggest, legitimate threats. 'At a time where so much movement is happening on the sanctions front, it needs to be as efficient as possible, or risk failures,' he said.
