Africa is disproportionately affected by economic sanctions imposed by countries in the Global North, particularly by the US. A little-studied dimension of these sanctions programs is their humanitarian impact, particularly given that these programs are often justified as being “smart” or “targeted” and thus negating such collateral effects. This chapter argues that the opposite is true in the area of financial inclusion. It is due to the difficulty of complying with US banking regulations, which is exacerbated by these sanctions programs, resulting in a “chilling effect” whereby retail banks choose to withdraw from the African market rather than risk violating US law and incurring the crushing penalties that follow from that, including the possible debarment from the Federal Reserve System and the inability to access the US financial system. The dollar’s unrivaled status as the global reserve currency makes the risk of incurring this financial “death penalty,” as it is sometimes termed, too great to bear. This withdrawal of retail banking services severely hampers financial inclusion in Africa and has a direct, negative effect on efforts at poverty reduction and sustainable development, one which is rarely a part of policy discussions about sanctions, yet raises significant social justice issues.