As we reach the end of yet another term of office in America, it is a good time to review how the content of the OFAC SDN list has been changing over time.
The graph below represents Country rank in terms of which countries have the most SDNs listed – it looks back as far as 2014. The year points are based on the SDN counts available in mid-October each year. A quick glance at the chart below shows that it has been a turbulent few years with many changes in tac in terms of increasing and decreasing sanctions and vice versa.
Iran presently takes the first place after the increase in sanctions due to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran snatched pole position from the long-established front runners: Colombia and Mexico whose SDNs are teaming with the drug cartels, and also at the expense of Syria and North Korea.
Russia has maintained its meteoric rise, which has been paralleled by China and Venezuela who both look set to further climb our chart.
Who are the losers with the greatest reduction in SDNs listed?
The main front runners from Western Europe: Germany and the UK, and further down the extended chart Italy, all fall relative to the others.
The African contingent of Sudan and Zimbabwe drop completely from this chart, leaving just Libya who gains and is a current riser in the chart.
At SQA Consulting we constantly monitor the relative risk of all countries with our Country Risk Index, and one of the many factors to calculate country risk looks at where SDNs are based. This is particularly relevant when assessing the Sanctions risk for a country for inclusion in your screening strategies, customer on-boarding, risk assessment, etc. For more information regarding assessing your sanctions risk and country risk assessments please contact us.
