Risks

• Hefty penalties, financial losses and reputation harm can result from an organization not having a satisfactory OFAC program, or having inadequate list-matching processes, training or independent audit/review. 
• Hefty penalties can be imposed on people and businesses who transact with countries or people on the "OFAC list," "UN list" or other international government watch lists.
• Inadequate training for those in the back office (for example, the wire room) may lead to a failure to comply with OFAC. Many cases have occurred in which employees thought it was only "a game" and changed names on bank transfer instructions to hide names of listed countries or entities, so that the transaction would go through faster. This may lead to hefty penalties, financial losses, and reputational harm.
• A failure to know the specific OFAC sanctions risks inherent to an organization, as well as its products or services, may result in inadequate mitigation of risk and expose the organization to punitive action and financial harm.

Opportunities

• Having an adequate OFAC program can mitigate the risk of financial loss, regulatory action and reputational harm.
• Business partners (especially those in the financial sector) may choose a partner/vendor based on the excellence of its controls and processes that mitigate OFAC exposure.
• One of the key tenets of a good anti-money laundering program and OFAC program is "knowing your customer." In turn, if your organization knows its customers well, it may lead to new and deeper business opportunities.