The Office of Foreign Assets Control is seeking public comments on an information collection related to its requirements surrounding remittance forwarding services to Cuba. The collection includes information on recordkeeping requirements. Comments are due Dec. 2.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 30 published a sanctions compliance guidance for instant payment systems, outlining various risk factors, compliance solutions and other considerations for financial institutions that use the systems. The guidance also includes a set of “key compliance features” that should be incorporated into instant payment systems.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined Washington-based Tango Card $116,048.60 for violating U.S. sanctions as a result of its “deficient geolocation identification processes,” the agency said last week. OFAC said Tango Card, an electronic gift and reward services company, violated U.S. sanctions related to the Crimea region of Ukraine and sanctions imposed against Cuba, Iran, Syria and North Korea.

The U.S. last week announced a host of new sanctions and export controls against Russia, targeting Russian defense and technology companies, Russian government officials and various suppliers for supporting the country's military. The measures include hundreds of new designations and 57 additions to the Entity List, most of which will be subject to certain foreign direct product rule restrictions.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 29 sanctioned an international network of companies that have sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products to end users in Asia. The designations target a range of Iranian and international brokers and front companies, including Iran Chemical Industries Investment Company, Middle East Kimiya Pars Co., India-based Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited, Hong Kong-based Sierra Vista Trading Limited, United Arab Emirates-based Clara Shipping LLC and others, including the Panama-flagged liquid petroleum gas tanker Gas Allure. Along with OFAC, the State Department sanctioned China-based Zhonggu Storage and Transportation Co. Ltd. and WS Shipping Co. Ltd. for their involvement in Iran's petrochemical trade.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended and reissued the Western Balkans Stabilization Regulations and Central African Republic Sanctions Regulations to include more guidance, definitions, general licenses and “other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public,” OFAC said in a pair of notices this week. Effective Sept. 29, the new regulations replace the previous Western Balkans regulations published in 2011 and the CAR regulations published in “abbreviated form” in 2014.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 27 released quarterly reports on certain licensing activities for Iran and Sudan, covering the period from April 2019 through September 2021. The reports provide licensing statistics for exports of agricultural goods, medicine and medical devices to both countries as required by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Diana Kajmakovic, a state prosecutor in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), for corruption and undermining democratic processes in the Western Balkans. OFAC said Kajmakovic is a “brazenly corrupt BiH state prosecutor with links to criminal organizations.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control published in the Federal Register a group of previously issued general licenses. One notice covers two general licenses issued under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations and the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, and the other notice covers three general licenses issued under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions program. The full text of each license appears in the respective notice.

People subject to U.S. jurisdiction can send remittances to Cuba through digital payments in certain situations, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a new frequently asked question this week. OFAC said remittances involving digital payments -- including money transfers through credit cards and digital bank accounts -- are permissible if the transaction is authorized under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and if the digital payment service provider is a “U.S.-registered money transmitter or other qualifying banking institution.”