Sanctions Screening

Governments and international bodies impose sanctions that prohibit or restrict dealings with certain people, companies and countries. Banks, payment companies, insurers and other businesses must ensure they do not breach these rules.

Screening checks names and other details against sanctions lists, such as those published by the United Nations, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, the European Union and the United Kingdom. It is carried out when onboarding customers, when processing payments and when lists change.

For example, before processing an international payment, a bank's screening system checks the names of the sender, recipient, banks and any other parties. If there is a potential match, the payment is held for review.

Screening is challenging because names can be spelled in different ways, and many potential matches turn out to be false alarms. Breaching sanctions can result in very large fines and reputational damage, so firms invest heavily in screening technology and specialized staff.