Question 1

What is adverse media screening?

Accepted Answer

The systematic search of news, regulatory enforcement, court records and other public sources for negative information about a customer or counterparty that could indicate financial-crime or reputational risk. It complements sanctions and PEP screening by surfacing intelligence that has not (yet)...

Question 2

Is adverse media screening a regulatory requirement?

Accepted Answer

It is explicitly required in the EU 6AMLD and UK regimes as part of EDD and ongoing monitoring. AUSTRAC expects it as part of EDD and risk assessment for higher-risk customers. FinCEN does not name it specifically but it is universally expected as part of a reasonable CDD program and is reflected...

Question 3

What categories of adverse media matter?

Accepted Answer

Modern screening providers categorise hits into typologies aligned with FATF predicate offences: bribery and corruption, fraud, money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions evasion, tax evasion, organised crime, modern slavery and trafficking, environmental crime, market abuse, and cybercrime...

Question 4

How is structured adverse media different from a Google search?

Accepted Answer

Structured adverse media data is curated: the source is identified, the publication date is captured, the article is tagged by typology, the mentioned subject is disambiguated against an entity record, and language is normalised across markets. Free-text web search returns none of this and cannot...

Adverse media screening