What is Watchlist Screening?
Watchlist Screening checks your client’s details against global data sets of sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEPs), including relatives and associates, and adverse media. Quickly identifying relationships with high-risk individuals can help protect your business against the higher AML and CTF risks associated with them and contributing towards a risk-based approach.
Why do I need to screen customers?
Screening clients and business relationships is a vital element of any KYC and AML operation, in order to understand your client and prevent an accidental relationship with a sanctioned party, or to assess and adjust relationships with high risk customers.
Monitoring screened customers helps to keep you up to date, and alert you to newly sanctioned parties, enabling you to quickly modify or terminate relationships.
What types of watchlists can be screened against?
Watchlists covering politically exposed persons (PEPs) and relatives or close associates (RCAs) can help to identify high risk clients or business relationships, covering government officials, high ranking armed forces staff, civil servants, legislation, judiciary members and more.
Sanctions screening is a vital part of client screening, as any relationship or business dealings with sanctioned individuals or entities can lead to heavy fines and prosecution. The most prominent sanctions regimes come from HMT, OFAC ,the EU and UN, but lists are published by governments around the world.
Special interest data can be screened via commercial sources such as Dow Jones and Acuris Risk Intelligence, to identify entities at higher risk for money laundering and terrorist financing. Categories such as organised crime, terrorism, corruption, bribery and trafficking help you to apply risk ratings and generate risk assessments.
Screen against adverse media risks, particularly useful in high-risk industries and relationships, covering topics such as insolvencies, reputational risk exposure events and law enforcement events.
When screening entities, screening against exclusion lists and regulatory enforcements can help analyse solvency, AML competencies and other regulatory notices.
