The President signed executive order 13851 in November of last year. It is OFAC sanctions against Nicaragua. We have a customer that lives in Nicaragua. The customer writes a check off of his account at our bank and deposits the money in his bank account in Nicaragua. Does the executive order affect this customer? We have read the executive order and are unsure if this would affect our customer of not. If it does affect our customer, what is the Bank's responsibility? Any guidance would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

Hi Megaman,
The order applies to all of us. These are some of the things I recommend doing:
Check your customers name against the SDN list.
You will find a number of names with Nicaraguan addresses.
Do a full review of your customer and determine if there's any suspicious activity or significant changes in activity since the order was signed.
I would also be interested to see if he is doing business with any of the other names individuals in the SDN list.
Is he related or doing business with anyone in the Nicaraguan government. They are looking for people contributing to the situation in Nicaragua. Any connections to that government- are they Peps?
When in doubt, call OFAC to confirm the name if you have doubts when trying to match the name on the list against your customer.
Keep all documentation for audit purposes.
I would also add "Nicaragua" to your system (parameters) to ensure this word is matched in any future transactions.
I would also consider changing the risk rating for this customer if appropriate.
If during this process you determine your customer is a match then follow your OFAC procedures to do the appropriate reporting.
If this is a true match I would also include in on my BSA report to the Board.
Hope this helps.