What is the difference between OFSI, UN, and EU sanctions lists?

The three lists serve different jurisdictions and are maintained by different authorities, but UK firms regulated under MLR-2017 are typically expected to screen against all three.

**OFSI** (Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation) is the UK's domestic sanctions enforcer, sitting inside HM Treasury. It publishes the UK's consolidated list of financial sanctions targets — individuals, entities, and ships subject to UK sanctions. Refresh cadence: daily, ~04:00 UTC. Source URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-sanctions-list. Post-Brexit, the OFSI list is the authoritative UK list — it diverges from the EU list and includes targets the UK has independently designated.

**UN** (United Nations Security Council Consolidated List) covers UN Member State obligations under Security Council resolutions, particularly relating to terrorism financing (1267 / 1989 / 2253), Iran (2231), DPRK (2270), Mali (2374), Yemen (2140), and others. Refresh cadence: as published, typically within hours of a Security Council designation. Source: https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/un-sc-consolidated-list. Every UN Member State (including the UK) implements these obligations domestically.

**EU** (Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions) is the EU's combined list of designated persons + entities under EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. Post-Brexit, the UK is no longer required to implement EU designations directly, but UK firms transacting with EU counterparties + EU branches still face screening obligations. Refresh cadence: daily. Source: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fsd/fsf/public/files/xmlFullSanctionsList_1_1/content.

The Stratum sanctions-screening endpoint screens against all three in one call + returns the per-list match with provenance + the list-version timestamp for the audit trail.

Last updated 2026-05-06.