Conducting PEPs, Sanctions, and Adverse Media Checks

Summary

This article explains how to initiate a PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons), Sanctions, and Adverse Media check on a staff member or client, review potential database matches, and record your final compliance determination.

When to Use This

Use this process when you are onboarding a new staff member or client and need to verify their background against politically exposed persons lists, sanctions lists, and adverse media reports. Properly resolving matches helps mitigate financial and reputational risks, ensuring compliance alignment before finalising onboarding.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Stage 1: Start the check

1. Find the staff member or client in the Compliance Centre.
2. Under AML/CTF: Client Due Diligence, tick PEPs, sanctions and Adverse media.
3. Choose a match sensitivity: Precise, Near, or Broad.
4. Optional - toggle Monitoring to re-run the check daily. When enabled, you'll be alerted via email if the client later becomes politically exposed or appears on a sanctions/adverse media list. This adds a cost on top of the standard onboarding fee.
5. Click Continue, review the details, then Confirm.

Stage 2: Wait for results

6. Status moves from PROCESSING to COMPLETED. Click VIEW once it's done.
7. If matches were found, the status shows Profiles Found.

Stage 3: Review and resolve matches

8. Click Review to see the potential matches.
9. Tick the profiles that look like they could match your client, then click Request profiles.
10. Status updates to To Review (or shows Action pending on the dashboard). Click Review to open the full profile.
11. Check the details: PEP level, RCA (Relatives and Close Associates), gender, citizenship, residency, jurisdictions, associated organisations, confidence score, and any adverse media.
12. Mark each profile Is a match or Not a match. If none of the profiles match your client, scroll down and click No matches instead. If you confirm a true match, follow your firm's escalation policy.
13. Repeat for any remaining flagged profiles. The overall status becomes Completed once every profile is resolved (or shows No matches if there were none).

Common Questions

• Who can I run a PEPs check on? You can run this check on either a staff member or a client.
• What happens after I confirm the order? The system will process the search, and the status will update to show whether any profile matches were found.
• What is a PEP check? A PEP check identifies whether a customer holds (or has held) a prominent public position or is closely related to someone who has.
• What is a Sanction check? A Sanctions check verifies whether a person or business appears on official government or international sanctions lists (for example - UN or DFAT)
• What is a Adverse Media check? An Adverse Media check looks for negative news or public information about a person or business.
• How do I Cancel a PEP, Sanctions & Adverse Media Check? If you need to cancel an existing search, simply select the three dots on the right hand side of the search. This will provide a drop down of options. Select the option Cancel PEPs, Sanctions & Adverse media. A confirmation message will appear on the screen to confirm your decision, select Confirm. This will move the status of the search to Cancelled.
• How do I enter client's details if they only have a single name — whether that's a first name with no surname, or a surname with no first name?Enter the client's single name in whichever field applies (first name or surname), and enter a hyphen (-) in the other field. The system needs both fields completed to process the check, so the hyphen fills the one that doesn't apply.
• What does Precise, Near or Broad mean when ordering a PEPs search? Precise - exact or very close matches, Near - close and feasible matches using linguistic and fuzzy search capabilities, Broad - wider scope of matches taking into consideration a tolerance of errors.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Incorrect details in the confirmation window: If the mobile number or other details are incorrect, update them in the pop-up before clicking confirm.
• Search taking a long time: The search may take a few moments to return results. Wait for the status to change from "IN PROGRESS" to see the outcome.