Sanctions check: how to search the OFAC, UK, EU and UN lists

On 13 October 2025 the UK government said the OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets would close. It closed at 9am on 28 January 2026. From then on the UK Sanctions List was the only source of UK sanctions designations, and that list has not stood still: on 30 October 2026 it recorded five amendments under its Afghanistan regime. A sanctions check reads one list on one day. A firm that onboards customers every week pairs it with client screening and ongoing monitoring, which runs the same names again whenever a list changes.

Which sanctions lists should you check?

Table 1. The official sanctions lists and where to search them (as of 1 November 2026)

Check the list of every jurisdiction whose rules reach your firm, your customer or the payment. A firm that onboards or pays across borders usually needs the US, UK and EU lists together. The UN list sits beneath them: the UN Security Council says member states "are obliged to implement the measures specific to each listed name". Add your own country's national list where one exists.

For the UK, search only the UK Sanctions List; the old OFSI list stays online for reference but stopped being updated on 28 January 2026.

Which identifiers should a sanctions check use?

Collect these before you type a name. Each one matches a field the lists carry, so it can confirm a hit or rule it out.

1. Full name in every spelling, with the original script if you have it; the UN list records both.
2. Aliases and former names. Listings carry names a person or company also used.
3. Date of birth. It separates namesakes, and even a year helps.
4. Nationality and country of residence, which narrow a hit to the right person.
5. Passport or national ID number, which settles a match where the listing holds one.
6. For a company, the registration number, country, address, directors and owners. The owners matter under the ownership rules below.
7. For a ship, the IMO number: the seven digit identifier that the vessel sanctions check searches together with the names the ship sailed under before.

How do you search each official sanctions list?

Each official tool is free, and each publisher sets its own rules.

For an SDN search, OFAC's Sanctions List Search covers the SDN List and OFAC's other lists. Enter the name, pick the type (individual, entity, vessel or aircraft) and, if needed, a program or an ID, digital currency addresses included. A slider sets the confidence threshold for near matches, and "OFAC does not provide recommendations with regard to the appropriateness of any specific confidence rating". Your firm picks the number. Each hit carries a program code, and OFAC says these codes "indicate how a true hit on a returned value should be treated".

The user guide to the UK search tool adds three rules. Fuzzy search is off by default, so tick it: a fuzzy search for Alexander also returns Alecsander and Aleksander. "Always search unfiltered first." Take care with an exact phrase in quotation marks. It can return a false negative, because the name field puts the last name first.

For the EU, the Commission publishes the consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to EU financial sanctions as files and through the EU Sanctions Map. Its notice warns that updates are delayed against the Official Journal and that "Only the information published in the Official Journal of the EU is deemed authentic". Confirm a fresh designation there.

The UN publishes its Consolidated List as PDF, XML and HTML files, sorted by name or by permanent reference number. The HTML file can be searched in the browser.

OFAC and the UK both say their tools stop short of due diligence. OFAC says use of its search "is not a substitute for undertaking appropriate due diligence", and the UK guide says reliance on its tool does not "reduce the obligation to undertake due diligence".

Can you check all four lists at once?

Yes. The free Sanctions Check from complead, formerly Sanction Scanner, takes one individual, company or vessel name and searches four lists at once, with no account: OFAC's SDN List, the UK's financial sanctions list, the EU's list and the UN Security Council's list. Matches appear on screen, and the PDF report sent by email gives each match's country, date of birth, aliases and program detail. Use it as a first look. Of OFAC's lists it names only the SDN List, and politically exposed persons need the separate free PEP check. Put any possible match through the identifier comparison below.

What do match, possible match and no match mean?

Picture an onboarding check on a customer named Sam Lee, born in 1990, a Canadian national. The search returns a listed Sam Lee born in 1962 with another nationality. The name matches. The date of birth and nationality rule the listing out.

Every result lands in one of three places. A true match agrees with the listing on the name and on at least one strong identifier, such as date of birth, ID number or registration number, and nothing else in the listing contradicts it. A possible match agrees on a name or alias but has no identifier yet to confirm or rule it out, so it stays open until you get one, usually from the customer. No match means none of your spellings returned a hit above your threshold.

Weigh aliases with care. The UN marks some as "Low quality a.k.a.", which it describes as "probably insufficient alone for a positive identification". A hit cleared on its identifiers is a false positive; record why it was cleared, with the identifiers compared, the list and the date.

You can check your own name the same way. Someone with a true match on the SDN List can use the appeal route on OFAC's Sanctions List Service page, and the UK Sanctions List page links a guide to challenging a designation.

Can a company that is not on a list still be sanctioned?

Yes. Under OFAC's 50 percent rule, an entity counts as blocked when one or more blocked persons together own 50 percent or more of it, directly or indirectly, even if its own name is on no list. FAQ 399 shows the arithmetic: if blocked person X owns 25 percent of Entity A and blocked person Y owns another 25 percent, Entity A is blocked.

Indirect stakes count through any company that is itself blocked. In Example 3 of FAQ 401, X owns 50 percent of Entity A and 10 percent of Entity B, and A owns 40 percent of B. A is blocked, so its 40 percent counts toward X: 10 plus 40 is 50, and B is blocked.

OFAC's rule "speaks only to ownership and not to control" (FAQ 398), though OFAC urges caution with companies that blocked persons control or own in part. The UK and EU reach further. The UK guide extends prohibitions to unlisted entities "owned or controlled" by a designated person, and Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 freezes funds "belonging to, owned, held or controlled by" listed persons.

A company check therefore runs through its ultimate beneficial owners, each screened in turn. A front company can keep a listed owner's name off the paperwork, so an opaque ownership chain behind a clean name is a reason to keep digging.

Who do you report a true match to, and how fast?

Picture a 40,000 dollar incoming payment from a company whose name, registration number and address all match an SDN entry. The receiving bank blocks the funds instead of passing them on. The reporting clocks start.

In the US, the blocking report goes to OFAC within 10 business days through the OFAC Reporting System (31 CFR 501.603). A rejected transaction is reported within 10 business days too (501.604).

Transaction records stay available for at least 10 years, and records of blocked property for as long as it stays blocked and 10 years after (31 CFR 501.601).

In the UK, a relevant firm informs OFSI "as soon as practicable" (OFSI reporting guidance). It also states the nature and amount of the funds it holds for the customer. Under Regulation 269/2014, persons and firms supply the information "immediately" to the competent authority of the member state where they are resident or located (Article 8).

Where the match also points to laundering or evasion, file a suspicious activity report with your financial intelligence unit as well. Keep the screening record, the evidence behind the decision and every report you filed.

How often do sanctions lists change after your check?

Often, by the UK list's change log. Besides the 30 October amendments, the UK Sanctions List recorded three delistings and three variations on 27 October 2026 and a correction and a variation on 29 October, the day the UN list was last updated. A customer cleared in September can be listed today, and a delisted one keeps raising alerts until someone rescreens. Ongoing monitoring rescreens the whole customer base each time a list changes, as well as at customer events.

On complead, the sanctions and watchlist data covers 3,500+ sanctions, PEP and watchlists from 220+ jurisdictions, refreshed every 15 minutes. Fuzzy matching thresholds can be set per list type and per individual list. Monitoring for each name starts or stops through the API. Each screening search is logged with the person who ran it, the name searched, the time and the result, even when nothing matched. An analyst makes each alert decision, and the log names that analyst.

Two settings belong in the screening policy before the next name arrives: the lists required for each customer type, and the match threshold for each list. OFAC will not choose the second one for you.

Sources. The official pages linked above were read on 1 November 2026: OFAC's Sanctions List Search, its 50 percent rule FAQs, 31 CFR 501.601 and 501.603, the UK Sanctions List with its search tool guide, OFSI's reporting page, the EU consolidated list dataset, Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 and the UN Security Council Consolidated List. Sam Lee and the 40,000 dollar payment are illustrations.