The Role of Adverse Media Screening in Risk Detection

Blog / The Role of Adverse Media Screening in Risk Detection

Adverse media is any negative information or information about a customer or business. With adverse media, it can be revealed whether a person or institution has been involved in crime. Adverse media or negative news can be accessed through many mass media such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio or web articles, blogs, social media platforms.

What is Adverse Media Screening?

Adverse Media Screening is one of the key factors for businesses to access all kinds of information about their customers and to carry out the customer due diligence process in the most accurate way. It ensures that the institution takes a risk-based approach and takes the necessary measures against any money laundering and terrorist financing crimes.


In 2020, many financial crimes were in the news. Unexpectedly, this will be different in 2021. Practically every day, we hear news of another financial crime. This means that adverse media has an extensive and crowded network.


Drug trafficking, illegal gambling, fraud, corruption, and many more money laundering crimes keep the adverse media busy. Businesses need to follow some steps to enforce adverse media controls regularly.


Adverse Media Scandals

The FinCEN leak scandal emphasized the importance of adverse media screening in combating money laundering in banking. According to the corporate transparency law within the new NDAA law's scope, the identities of the usufruct right holders of the companies established in the USA should be disclosed, and joint-stock shell companies should be effectively banned.


The BBC suggests that banks can monitor by payer and payee names rather than transactions. Some of the associated money laundering issues can be identified earlier, and banks can block transactions, reject and close the business.


Another factor in which adverse media played a role was the 2020 approval order with Deutsche bank. According to US regulators, the bank ignored the late Jeffrey Epstein's criminal history and allowed millions of dollars worth of suspicious transactions to pass.


FinCEN announced that a guidance plan would be prepared for banks to improve their AML activities in the past months. Thus, he encouraged banks to seek ways to find more useful intelligence for regulators and law enforcement. It can be crucial for banks to heed this call to solve long-standing problems.

Why is Adverse Media Screening Important?

The value of adverse media in the financial sector has been better understood after many years. With breaking news, you can be aware of the stock's collapse or learn about intercompany relationships. Adverse media can also create indicators that warn of leading crimes such as allegations of bribery and corruption, drug or human trafficking, and fraud.


Therefore, financial regulators and the anti-money laundering community have a strong consensus that leveraging adverse media news data is a significant step in assessing risk.


However, given the difficulties of reaching negative news in the past, a search box for adverse media has become sufficient today. Banks and other financial institutions can speed up customer due to diligence processes by reaching negative news within seconds through adverse media screening. It can also reduce the risk of crime by taking early measures against potential money laundering activities.

About Sanction Scanner Adverse Media Screening


Globally Adverse Media Data

Businesses need to create a customer profile before opening a Customer account. This profile contains information such as customer credentials, transaction history, adverse media data. At this point, it is of great importance to quickly access adverse media data.


Sanction Scanner enables businesses to identify and identify risks in their customer account opening processes with its globally owned adverse media data.


With Sanction Scanner Adverse Media Screening, you can easily meet your customer due diligence, and advanced due diligence needs and reduce your workload.


Support Ongoing Monitoring Process

Sanction Scanner allows you to automatically check global comprehensive sanction, PEP, and adverse media data according to customer risk levels while performing your ongoing monitoring processes. Thus, you can automatically perform your ongoing monitoring process with more comprehensive data and speed up your customer risk assessment processes.

API, Batch, and Web Multiple Search Options

Another solution offered by the Sanction Scanner Adverse Media Screening Tool is multiple search options. Through this adverse media solution, you can control Adverse media.

With our Adverse Media solution, you can perform Adverse Media controls via API, batch files, or the web.


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