The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a division of the US Treasury Department that enforces sanctions imposed by the US on states, companies, and individuals worldwide. OFAC has offices near the White House in Washington DC and 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.
Despite this, Swiss banks occasionally report personal visits from OFAC employees. According to an anonymous observer, OFAC representatives hold informal bilateral meetings with Swiss banks to discuss sanctions rules and interpretations. These meetings provide banks with a better understanding of OFAC’s objectives and help navigate complex sanction matters. In recent years, the focus has been on Russia sanctions, with Andrea Gacki being a key figure in implementing them. Swiss banks active in asset management, like UBS, Credit Suisse, and Julius Baer, are likely targets of these meetings.
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 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 while Finma emphasizes the importance of communicating with sanctioning authorities within legal frameworks.
In cases where there are sensitive issues or high-ranking OFAC personnel involved or demands for confidential data are made, banks are expected to involve Finma or Seco. However, concerns about lack of transparency in direct interactions between OFAC and Swiss banks have been raised. Despite this, cooperation between the two parties is generally viewed as constructive, especially in matters related to Russia sanctions.
Overall, it seems that despite some concerns about transparency and communication between Swiss banks and OFAC officials
