Informal OFAC Visits: How Swiss Banks Handle Russia Sanctions and Maintain Cooperative Relationships with US Treasury Department

Swiss banks occasionally report personal visits from officials of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to them. OFAC is a division of the US Treasury Department responsible for enforcing sanctions imposed by the US on states, companies, and individuals worldwide. The agency freezes assets of sanctioned entities to cut them off from the American financial system. Although US sanctions do not have legal validity in Switzerland, internationally operating companies must comply with them.

In recent years, the focus of these informal bilateral meetings between OFAC representatives and Swiss banks has been on Russia sanctions, with Andrea Gacki being a key figure in implementing them. Banks active in asset management, such as UBS, Credit Suisse, and Julius Baer, are likely targets of these meetings. Some Swiss banks have direct contact with OFAC, while 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, including the USA, while Finma emphasizes the importance of communicating with sanctioning authorities within legal frameworks. In cases of sensitive issues or high-ranking OFAC personnel or demands for confidential data, banks are expected to involve Finma or Seco. Concerns about the lack of transparency in these direct interactions between OFAC and Swiss banks have been raised, but overall cooperation is generally viewed as constructive, especially in matters related to Russia sanctions.