Politically exposed persons, sanctions, and adverse media
PEP and sanctions screening on an already verified identity
Every check is performed against a verified identity, not just a name. False positives caused by namesakes are eliminated before they reach your team, and every approval and every block is linked to the original verification.
+190 financial institutions in +30 countries rely on Facephi
Politically exposed persons
Global coverage of PEPs, sanctions and local lists
A single screening process against international sanctions, politically exposed persons, adverse media and the official local lists for each market.
Independent and screening certifications
iBeta · Level 1
iBeta · Level 2
ISO 22301
SOC 2 Type 2
ISO 27001
ISO 27017
NIST FPAD
SEPBLAC
GDPR
List coverage
Lists and sources we cover
Simultaneous screening against international sanctions, PEPs and adverse media within the same workflow. Includes official local lists by market, updated in accordance with each regulator’s requirements.
| List type | What’s included | Geographical scope |
|---|---|---|
| International sanctions | OFAC (United States), the European Union, the UN, HM Treasury (UK), sectoral and consolidated sanctions. | Global |
| Local sanctions | List of blocked individuals in Mexico, restrictive lists in Colombia, and other binding national lists. | Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Latin America |
| Politically exposed persons | National and international PEPs, family members and close associates. Categorisation by level of exposure. | Global coverage |
| Clinton List | The OFAC list of designated drug traffickers (SDNT/SDNTK), as it is colloquially known in Colombia. | Colombia and worldwide |
| Adverse media | Press coverage relating to financial crime, corruption, drug trafficking or the financing of terrorism. | Multilingual coverage |
| Law enforcement lists | Interpol, Europol and their national counterparts. Active search notices and arrest warrants. | Global |
Extended coverage under an agreement with an external data provider. The full table is shared during the demo, along with the data sources fact sheet.
False positives and ongoing review
From admission to ongoing review
False positives and excessive alerts lead to excessive manual checks and investigations that take too long.
The lists change every week. Screening cannot be a one-off check at the point of registration: it must be an ongoing process throughout the entire customer relationship.
- List updates aligned with the issuer’s official frequency.
- Contextual information on the verified identity: document, country of issue, date of birth, facial biometrics.
- Alerts prioritised by risk level and type of match.
Evidence and compliance
Evidence ready for the auditor
Every enquiry and every decision leaves a trail of evidence that is traceable, exportable and verifiable to the regulator.
In line with SARLAFT in Colombia, CNBV in Mexico, SEPBLAC in Spain, and their regional equivalents.
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A complete record of every query against lists: time, lists queried, result.
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Match details: name, match type, similarity level, context used.
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Decision taken by the reviewer: approve, reject, escalate. With reason and signature.
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Configurable retention by jurisdiction, aligned with the period required by the regulator.
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One-click export of the full customer file for internal or external audit purposes.
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A direct link between each match and the verified identity that gave rise to it.
Use cases by sector
Sectors where we already use it
Bank
Banks account for the bulk of exposure to money laundering, particularly in correspondent banking and transit accounts, where the institution never actually knows the real customer behind the transaction. Continuous screening and traceable evidence are a requirement, not a distinguishing feature.
Fintech
Fraud evolves on a daily basis and regulations are becoming increasingly stringent. Expansion into multiple markets brings with it different KYC and AML requirements depending on the jurisdiction. Screening and verification must be carried out within the same workflow, without causing any friction for legitimate customers.
Independent recognition in the fields of fraud, identity theft and financial crime
Your compliance team consults Gartner, Everest and other analysts on financial crime, screening and identity verification. You can find us in their reports.
Let’s talk
Fill in the form and our team will contact you as soon as possible to discuss your requirements and offer you the best solution for your bank.
- Personalised demo based on your real-world use cases
- Deployment estimate for your infrastructure (on-premises, private cloud)
- Regulatory mapping for your jurisdiction
- Response within 24 hours
Frequently Asked Questions
What compliance and fraud teams ask
The most common questions when assessing a provider of PEP screening and sanctions.
A politically exposed person (PEP) is someone who holds or has held a prominent public office, including their family members and close associates. Being a PEP does not imply any criminal offence; it is a category for preventive monitoring that requires the organisation to apply enhanced due diligence measures.
This involves checking the customer’s identity against current sanctions lists issued by international organisations and governments. A match may result in legal restrictions on trading, refusal of account opening, or mandatory reporting to the relevant authority, depending on the jurisdiction.
In Colombia, the national binding and restrictive lists, the Clinton List (OFAC drug trafficking) and the general OFAC list. In Mexico, the List of Blocked Persons issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit, together with the OFAC and UN lists. Both are covered by the same screening process.
Using advanced approximate matching and contextual information relating to the identity that has already been verified. The comparison is not based solely on the name provided: it is supported by the document, country of issue, date of birth and biometric data. Matches with a low probability of being correct are automatically discarded, and only those deemed relevant are forwarded for human review.
The lists change every week, which is why screening is an ongoing process, not just at the point of onboarding. The active portfolio is reassessed whenever a relevant list is updated or when the client’s profile changes significantly, without having to repeat the process from scratch.
Each list is updated at the official frequency stated by its issuer. Major international sanctions are updated daily, whilst local lists are updated in line with the regulator’s schedule. When a list changes, a reassessment of the active portfolio is triggered automatically.
Yes. On-premises deployment on Kubernetes within the organisation’s infrastructure. This model exists precisely to ensure that data remains within the perimeter, in line with data sovereignty requirements or those of a regulated sector. Also available as SaaS and PaaS on dedicated infrastructure.
International sanctions, PEPs and adverse events all in the same workflow. With the official local lists for each market and the updates required by each regulator.
A detailed audit trail of all checks. Audit-ready controls and operational evidence that can be demonstrated to the regulator – not just detection.
The pricing model depends on the volume of enquiries, the number of environments and the chosen deployment model. We provide a fixed-price quote following the demo, with figures tailored to your specific situation and no unexpected operational cost overruns.