UK Sanctions List Update – Changes In Effect From February 2022

The UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation "OFSI" has announced that, with effect from February 2022, the structure and data fields included in the UK Sanctions List and OFSI's consolidated list will be changing.

Businesses and organisations that conduct sanctions checks on their customers, business partners and affiliates should familiarise themselves with the new format, take steps to confirm that automated screening processes are correctly configured for the updated data fields and ensure documented compliance policies are refreshed. 

Key changes include:

• Addition of an Alias  or Also Known As ("AKA") strength indication for UN listings. A "weak AKA" is a term for a relatively broad or generic alias that may generate a large number of false hits.  Weak AKAs include nicknames, noms-de-guerre, and unusually common acronyms.