Nick

Articles by Nick

• Sanctions screening false positives: a review checklist

  Review sanctions screening alerts with a practical identity checklist, synthetic examples, decision notes, and official OFAC guidance.

• OFAC’s 50 Percent Rule and the limits of name screening

  Understand OFAC’s 50 Percent Rule with synthetic ownership examples, a review checklist, and the limits of a sanctions list search.

• Partial birth dates and source dates in sanctions screening

  Compare partial birth dates without inventing precision, distinguish source timestamps, and record date uncertainty with synthetic examples.

• What is sanctions screening? A practical business guide

  Understand the sanctions screening process with a supplier example, source-selection checklist, match-review steps, and practical recordkeeping guidance.

• What is AML screening? Scope, checks, and review workflows

  Learn what AML screening covers, how sanctions, PEP and adverse-media checks differ, and how to organize customer onboarding and ongoing review.

• OFAC screening vs AML screening: what is the difference?

  Compare OFAC sanctions checks with broader AML controls, including identity, beneficial ownership, watchlists, monitoring, and case review.

• KYC vs AML vs sanctions screening: a practical comparison

  Separate KYC, KYB, CDD, AML, and sanctions screening so your onboarding workflow records what each control actually verifies and leaves unresolved.

• AML compliance software: a screening-focused buying checklist

  Evaluate AML software by actual scope: sanctions sources, identity controls, case management, monitoring, integrations, retention, and operational costs.

• AML case management vs sanctions case management

  Learn how sanctions identity investigations differ from broader AML cases, and how to connect findings without losing evidence, access controls, or decision scope.

• Customer screening: connect onboarding, review, and monitoring

  Design customer and counterparty screening around stable identities, selected sources, documented match decisions, and changes across the relationship.

• Sanctions screening for small businesses: a workable process

  Build a manageable sanctions screening process for a small business, with clear party selection, review ownership, evidence, and escalation boundaries.

• What is sanctions case management? From alert to decision

  Learn how sanctions case management connects possible matches, analyst evidence, comments, independent review, decisions, and later monitoring changes.

• How to document a sanctions screening decision

  Use an evidence-led sanctions review note with source references, identity comparisons, unresolved facts, reviewer approval, and a separate business disposition.

• Sanctions alert management: triage, ownership, and resolution

  Organize sanctions alerts by evidence and operational status, with clear assignment, escalation, incomplete-check handling, and monitoring follow-up.

• How to investigate a sanctions screening alert

  Investigate a sanctions candidate with source provenance, comparable identity evidence, careful cross-list review, documented gaps, and an authorized handoff.

• Sanctions screening audit trail: what the record should show

  Build a sanctions screening audit trail that preserves original results, source versions, analyst reasoning, approvals, changes, and usable evidence references.

• Sanctions screening policy: scope, review, and monitoring checklist

  Define a sanctions screening policy with named sources, input standards, review authority, exceptions, monitoring triggers, evidence, and control testing.

• OFAC screening for auto dealers: a deal-file workflow

  Build a dealership OFAC review process for buyers and business customers, with useful identity comparisons, exception handling, and retained decisions.

• OFAC screening for real estate: parties, timing, and evidence

  Organize sanctions checks for a real-estate transaction without confusing identity screening, ownership research, and FinCEN reporting requirements.

• OFAC screening for title companies: a closing-file checklist

  Connect sanctions checks, changed parties, candidate review, and closing-file evidence without treating a search result as permission to disburse.

• Sanctions screening for fintech: onboarding through monitoring

  Design a fintech sanctions workflow with explicit source scope, safe failure states, human review, and ongoing monitoring linked to customer identity.

• OFAC screening for lenders: borrowers, entities, and review

  Define lender sanctions checks for the actual borrower and related parties, with documented review, source scope, and separate credit decisions.

• OFAC screening for insurance: policy parties and claims review

  Map insurance sanctions checks to policy roles and review checkpoints while keeping covered-product AML duties and claims decisions separate.

• Sanctions screening for crypto businesses: identity and wallet controls

  Separate customer-name screening from blockchain analytics, with defined source coverage, investigation evidence, and ongoing customer monitoring.

• Sanctions screening for money services businesses

  Connect MSB customer screening, source-specific review, and ongoing monitoring without confusing sanctions checks with transaction monitoring or reporting.

• Sanctions screening for nonprofits: partners and program controls

  Build proportionate nonprofit sanctions checks for selected partners and suppliers, with careful identity review and separate authorization analysis.

• What is continuous sanctions monitoring? Cadence and alerts

  Understand ongoing sanctions monitoring, scheduled and source-triggered rescreening, changing customer details, alert review, and important coverage limits.

• How often should customers be screened against sanctions lists?

  Set a risk-based sanctions rescreening policy using relationship events, source changes, monitoring cadence, and evidence of successful checks.

• Sanctions monitoring vs transaction monitoring

  Compare ongoing name and entity rescreening with transaction-behavior monitoring, and design separate outcomes, evidence, and escalation paths.

• Ongoing sanctions monitoring: an operations checklist

  Operate sanctions monitoring with a reconciled customer population, current subject data, source coverage, successful rescreens, alert ownership, and closure rules.

• What is OFAC? Sanctions lists and business screening

  Understand what OFAC does, which sanctions lists it publishes, and how an OFAC check differs from a compliance or customer approval decision.

• What is the OFAC SDN List? Names, aliases and record fields

  Learn what the OFAC SDN List contains, how to read a source record, and why aliases, entity types, and ownership matter in sanctions screening.

• What is an OFAC check? Meaning, results and next steps

  See what an OFAC check compares, what potential-match and no-match results mean, and what information a business should retain after screening.

• How to perform an OFAC search and review possible matches

  Follow an OFAC search workflow: select SDN or Non-SDN coverage, use known identifiers, review candidates, and document the result without false clearance.

• What to do with an OFAC match: review and escalation

  Learn how to investigate a possible OFAC match, preserve identifying evidence, escalate unresolved cases, and separate identity from legal disposition.

• OFAC screening requirements: obligations and practical controls

  Separate OFAC legal obligations from screening procedures. Build coverage, review, escalation, recordkeeping, and testing controls around your actual risk.

• Who must comply with OFAC? U.S. persons and business scope

  Understand OFAC’s general jurisdiction, why nonbanks still consider sanctions, and how compliance obligations differ from a universal screening mandate.

• OFAC SDN vs Non-SDN: coverage and restrictions are different

  Compare OFAC SDN and Non-SDN coverage, preserve underlying list identities, and avoid treating every OFAC screening result as a blocking designation.

• OFAC recordkeeping: retention periods and screening evidence

  Understand current OFAC recordkeeping periods, distinguish legal retention from product settings, and preserve screening decisions with usable evidence.

• OFAC batch screening: review every row, not just the upload

  Plan bulk OFAC screening with stable subject IDs, explicit source coverage, per-row outcomes, safe retries, and a practical analyst handoff.

• OFAC screening guides: searches, lists and match review

  Find OFAC screening guides for SDN and Non-SDN searches, potential matches, ownership, recordkeeping, batch checks, and API implementation.

• AML screening guides: customer checks and software scope

  Explore AML screening, KYC and sanctions differences, customer checks, case management, and software evaluation with practical workflow examples.

• Sanctions case management and match-review guides

  Build sanctions alert workflows with guides to match review, false positives, missed matches, thresholds, case-management software, and audit evidence.

• Sanctions monitoring guides: rescreening, updates and alerts

  Plan ongoing sanctions monitoring with guides to customer rescreening, screening frequency, source updates, webhook delivery, and incomplete checks.

• Watchlist screening guides: lists, coverage and APIs

  Understand watchlist screening, compare sanctions and other lists, assess official data sources, and plan API coverage, costs, and review workflows.

• Sanctions screening by industry: sector workflow guides

  Explore industry sanctions screening guides for customer, supplier, payment, property, healthcare, insurance, nonprofit, and trade workflows.

• What is watchlist screening? Sources, matches, and review

  Understand watchlist screening, how source purposes differ, and why sanctions, PEP, export-control, and exclusion results need distinct interpretation.

• Watchlists vs sanctions vs PEP screening: know the difference

  Separate sanctions restrictions, broader watchlists, and politically exposed person screening so source findings do not become unsupported customer conclusions.

• What is PEP screening? Identity, public function, and due diligence

  Understand politically exposed person screening, why PEP status is not a criminal allegation, and how to assess definitions, evidence, and coverage.

• Global sanctions lists: an official-source directory and guide

  Find official OFAC, UK, EU, UN, Canadian, Australian, and U.S. trade-screening sources, with scope notes and clear supported-versus-reference distinctions.

• Restricted-party screening vs sanctions screening

  Understand restricted-party screening, sanctions and export-control lists, and source context without treating every candidate as an OFAC match.

• Adverse media vs sanctions screening: evidence and scope

  Compare media-based risk research with authoritative sanctions list screening, including identity resolution, source credibility, dates, and product coverage limits.

• What structured sanctions records tell us about dates and names

  An analysis of 19,452 OFAC SDN records and 6,339 UK Sanctions List records: date-of-birth precision, aliases and source-defined identifiers, with methods and aggregate data.