Swiss banks often have informal meetings with officials from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to discuss sanction rules and interpretations, according to an anonymous observer. These meetings help banks navigate complex sanction matters and provide a better understanding of OFAC’s objectives.
While some Swiss banks have direct contact with OFAC, others may not be aware of these interactions. The informal meetings are arranged bilaterally between the banks and OFAC, sometimes without involving official bodies like the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) or the financial market regulator Finma. Seco maintains good cooperation with all partners, including the USA, while Finma emphasizes the importance of communicating with sanctioning authorities within legal frameworks.
In cases of sensitive issues, high-ranking OFAC personnel or demands for confidential data, banks are expected to involve Finma or Seco. However, concerns about the lack of transparency in these direct interactions between OFAC and Swiss banks have been raised. Despite this, the cooperation between the two parties is generally viewed as constructive, especially in matters related to Russia sanctions.
OFAC is a division of the US Treasury Department with offices near the White House in Washington DC that enforces sanctions imposed by the US on states, companies and individuals worldwide. It freezes assets of sanctioned entities to cut them off from the American financial system. Although American sanctions don’t have legal validity in Switzerland, internationally operating companies must comply with them.