Cuban entrepreneurs who spent the past two years building financial ties to the United States just lost them. New Treasury Department rules taking effect Wednesday strip away authorization for U.S. banks to open or maintain accounts for Cuba's independent private-sector business owners, while also narrowing several categories of travel to the island.
The changes come from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to carry out the administration's foreign policy toward Cuba, according to a notice in the Federal Register. As reported by Bloomberg, U.S. banks are no longer permitted to open and maintain accounts for Cuban nationals “who are independent private sector entrepreneurs.” The same report notes that so-called U-turn transactions — Cuba-related transfers that U.S. banks could once process even though they originated and terminated outside the country — have also been disallowed.
Travel Categories Narrowed Across the Board
Beyond banking, the update eliminates several paths Americans have used to legally travel to Cuba. The general license for group educational trips known as people-to-people exchanges has been removed, according to Cuba Headlines, which also reports that the general authorization for organizing or attending professional meetings and conferences in Cuba is gone as well.
Academic travel survives, but with new strings attached. An OFAC alert states that as of Wednesday, educational Cuba-related travel by anyone subject to U.S. jurisdiction must occur under the auspices of an organization that is itself subject to U.S. jurisdiction, per the Office of Foreign Assets Control. The same alert specifies that nearly all travelers under this category must be accompanied by a representative of the sponsoring organization. One thing that has not changed, per the Strait Times: there are no new restrictions on commercial flights to the island.
A Reversal of 2024 Support Measures
The new rules effectively unwind steps Treasury took in 2024 to help Cuba's fledgling private sector connect to the U.S. financial system. In May of that year, Treasury reinstated an authorization intended to facilitate remittances and payments tied to authorized transactions in the Cuban private sector, including for independent entrepreneurs, according to the department's own press release. Around the same time, the Miami Herald reported that Biden-era regulations were set to let Cuban business owners open U.S. bank accounts remotely and conduct authorized transactions through online payment platforms — though even that earlier expansion stopped short of allowing direct correspondent banking between U.S. and Cuban banks, the outlet noted.
An OFAC frequently-asked-questions page confirms the mechanics of the rollback: the agency amended section 515.584(h) to remove authorization for U.S.-jurisdiction banking institutions to open and maintain accounts held solely in the name of a Cuban national who qualifies as an independent private-sector entrepreneur. CBS News Miami, which first aired the update as a video report, framed the changes as a tightening of both travel and banking rules for private businesses on the island.
Commercial Ties Continue Despite New Curbs
The policy shift lands against a backdrop of active U.S.-Cuba trade. U.S. cargo ships have made more than 200 trips to Cuba in 2026 carrying fuel, solar panels, food, vehicles and auto parts, according to Bloomberg News reporting cited by the Strait Times. That volume of shipping traffic underscores how commercial channels between the two countries have kept moving even as person-to-person and financial pathways for Cuba's private entrepreneurs are being pulled back.
