Screen customers, suppliers, beneficial owners, and third parties against global sanctions lists, politically exposed persons (PEPs), regulatory watchlists, and enforcement databases, all from a single platform.
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PEP and sanctions screening helps businesses identify customers, suppliers, individuals, and other third parties that may present regulatory, financial, or reputational risk. Creditsafe’s PEP and sanctions screening solution enables organizations to screen people and businesses against global Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) databases, sanctions and enforcement lists, adverse media, and other compliance data as part of their Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) due diligence processes. With comprehensive global data and ongoing monitoring, compliance teams can identify potential risks earlier, strengthen due diligence, and make more informed decisions about who they do business with.
Manual checks slow onboarding
Creditsafe Protect searches multiple compliance sources at once, helping your team screen customers faster and reduce manual work.
Risk information changes constantly
Ongoing monitoring alerts you to changes in sanctions, PEP status, enforcement activity and adverse media.
False positives create extra work
Configurable matching helps reduce irrelevant results and focus your team on genuine risks.
Risk continues after onboarding
Automated monitoring tracks customers, suppliers and partners throughout the relationship.
Multiple systems add complexity
Creditsafe Protect combines screening, monitoring, identity verification and audit trails in one platform.
Full digital audit trail
Maintain a complete digital audit trail of every screening decision and monitoring activity.
PEP Screening
Screen against more than 1.8 million Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) profiles, including family members and known associates, to strengthen anti-bribery and anti-corruption due diligence.
Global Sanctions Screening
Check businesses and individuals against major international sanctions lists, including OFAC, United Nations, European Union, BIS, FBI, Bank of England, and hundreds of additional global watchlists.
Adverse Media Screening
Search 35,000+ global news sources to identify links to fraud, corruption, money laundering, terrorism, financial crime and other reputational risks.
Enforcement List Screening
Screen against 1,650+ global enforcement lists from regulators and government agencies, including the SEC, FDA and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Ongoing Monitoring
Continuously monitor customers, suppliers and business partners for changes to sanctions, PEP status, adverse media, enforcement activity and profile information, with automated alerts.
A Politically Exposed Person (PEP) is an individual who holds, or has held, a prominent public position that could increase their exposure to bribery, corruption or other financial crime risks. This includes heads of state, government ministers, senior judges, military leaders, executives of state-owned enterprises and other high-ranking public officials.
Many compliance frameworks also extend PEP status to immediate family members and close associates because they may present similar risk factors. Being identified as a PEP does not imply wrongdoing or criminal activity. Instead, it indicates that additional due diligence may be appropriate when establishing or maintaining a business relationship. Compliance solutions such as Creditsafe help organizations identify PEPs and apply risk-based screening as part of broader AML and KYC programs.
A Politically Exposed Person (PEP) is generally someone who currently holds, or has previously held, a prominent public position. Examples include presidents, prime ministers, members of parliament, senior government officials, judges, ambassadors, military officers and executives of state-owned enterprises.
Many regulations and industry best practices also treat a PEP's immediate family members and close associates as higher-risk individuals because of their connection to public office. The exact definition of a PEP varies by country, regulatory framework and an organization's internal risk policies, making access to comprehensive global data an important part of effective screening.
Although they are often performed together, PEP screening and sanctions screening serve different purposes.
PEP screening identifies individuals who hold prominent public positions and may require enhanced due diligence because of an increased risk of bribery or corruption. Sanctions screening checks whether an individual or organization appears on government or international sanctions lists that prohibit or restrict certain business activities.
A person can be a Politically Exposed Person without appearing on a sanctions list, and a sanctioned individual may not be a PEP. Using both screening methods together provides a more complete picture of financial crime and compliance risk. Many organizations use integrated compliance platforms, such as Creditsafe, to perform both checks from a single workflow.
PEP screening helps businesses identify customers, suppliers and other third parties who may present a higher risk of bribery, corruption or financial crime. It forms an important part of Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC) and third-party risk management programs by helping organizations determine when enhanced due diligence is required.
Screening before onboarding and monitoring relationships over time enables businesses to make better-informed risk decisions, satisfy regulatory expectations and reduce exposure to financial crime. Automated platforms like Creditsafe can simplify this process by continuously monitoring customers for changes in their risk profile.
In the United States, there is no law that specifically requires businesses to conduct PEP screening. However, organizations regulated under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations are expected to maintain risk-based Customer Due Diligence (CDD) programs that identify and manage higher-risk customers.
PEP screening is widely recognized as a best practice for supporting these obligations because it helps organizations identify individuals who may require Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD). Many financial institutions and regulated businesses use automated PEP screening as part of their wider compliance program to strengthen risk management, support regulatory compliance and demonstrate a robust approach to financial crime prevention.
PEP and sanctions screening should be completed before establishing a new business relationship and continue throughout the customer lifecycle. A customer's risk profile can change over time due to new political appointments, updates to sanctions lists or changes in regulatory status, making ongoing screening essential rather than relying solely on onboarding checks.
Continuous screening helps organizations identify these changes as they occur, supporting Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC) and third-party risk management programs. The appropriate screening frequency depends on an organization's industry, regulatory obligations and risk appetite, but many businesses use automated monitoring to receive real-time alerts whenever a customer's PEP or sanctions status changes. Solutions such as Creditsafe help organizations automate ongoing screening and maintain an up-to-date view of compliance risk.