Transforming Sanctions Screening

Sanctions screening in many ways underpins anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) operations at financial institutions. Screening customers and counterparties against lists of sanctioned entities is a critical step across the customer lifecycle, from account opening to authorizing payments to periodic customer review. AML operations are in the process of being transformed by next-generation technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), and natural language processing (NLP). The application of these new technologies to AML has been largely focused on Know Your Customer (KYC), transaction monitoring, and case management functions, while sanctions operations continue to rely for the most part on traditional name screening of structured data. Yet the crucial role of sanctions screening—not just for international wires but across the AML value chain—points to a need for transformation of sanctions processes as well.