Cuba under Monetary Restrictions

[ABS News Service/01.10.2026]

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has announced four final rules taking effect yesterday, including substantive restrictions on Cuba-related payments, bank accounts and travel.

The package also incorporates existing executive-order sanctions authorities into the Iran and Cuba regulations and consolidates administrative provisions across multiple sanctions programs. OFAC announcement.

Cuba payments, accounts and travel face new restrictions. Amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations extend restrictions on transactions with entities on the State Department’s Cuba Restricted List to cover indirect financial transactions, including specified participation by payment intermediaries. The rule also withdraws authorization to process qualifying “U-turn” transfers – payments originating and terminating outside the United States where neither the originator nor beneficiary is subject to US jurisdiction – and replaces it with authorization to reject those transfers.

The amendments remove the general license permitting US-jurisdiction banks to maintain certain accounts for Cuban independent private-sector entrepreneurs. OFAC states that, unless separately authorized, affected accounts and funds must be blocked when the amendment takes effect; unblocking requires a specific license. A narrower authorization for receiving specified US payments and remitting them to Cuba remains.

The CACR rule also withdraws general licenses for group people-to-people educational travel and attendance at or organization of professional meetings in Cuba, while tightening conditions for other educational travel.