{"head":{"title":"What Is Sanctions Screening? Definition and Example","description":"Sanctions screening checks customers and payments against government lists, such as OFAC's SDN list, before money moves. How it works, mistakes.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/glossary/sanctions-screening"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Glossary","path":"/glossary"},{"name":"sanctions screening","path":"/glossary/sanctions-screening"}],"slug":"sanctions-screening","term":"Sanctions screening","aka":["OFAC screening","watchlist screening"],"category":"Payments and fintech","short":"Checking customers, counterparties and payments against government sanctions lists before letting money move.","body":[["Governments publish lists of people, companies, vessels and countries that are under sanctions. In the US, OFAC keeps the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Screening compares names and details in your system against these lists at onboarding, on every relevant payment and whenever the lists change."],["OFAC explains that blocking imposes an across-the-board ban on dealings with a blocked person, that US persons may not deal with blocked persons wherever they are, and that blocked property must be reported to OFAC within 10 business days. Entities owned 50% or more, in total, by blocked persons are blocked too, even if they are not named on the list."]],"why":["Sanctions breaches can bring large penalties and can end banking relationships. For products that move money across borders, screening sits in the payment path, so its speed and its false-match handling affect every user."],"example":["A B2B payments platform screens every new payee. A supplier's name partly matches a listed company. The payment holds, an analyst compares the address and registration number, confirms it is a different company, clears it and records the reason."],"inBuild":["In a payments build, screening is a step in onboarding and in the payment flow, with a hold state, a review screen and a record of each decision."],"mistakes":[["Screening only at onboarding and not when lists update."],["Exact-match only, which misses spelling variants and transliterations."],["Ignoring ownership, so companies owned by listed people slip through."]],"related":[{"href":"/glossary/pep","label":"PEP (politically exposed person)","detail":"Someone who holds or held a prominent public role, or a family member or close associate of one, treated as higher risk for corruption."},{"href":"/glossary/aml","label":"AML (anti-money laundering)","detail":"The laws, checks and controls that stop criminals from moving or hiding illegal money through financial services."},{"href":"/glossary/kyb","label":"KYB (know your business)","detail":"Checking a business customer: that it legally exists, who owns and controls it, and how risky it is."},{"href":"/glossary/travel-rule","label":"Travel rule","detail":"A rule that requires details of the sender and the recipient to travel with certain transfers of money or crypto-assets between financial institutions."}],"tools":[{"href":"/tools/kyc-cost-per-check","label":"KYC cost per check","detail":"Free tool"},{"href":"/tools/fintech-app-cost","label":"Fintech app cost","detail":"Free tool"}],"links":[{"href":"/build/aml-fraud-monitoring","label":"Building AML and fraud monitoring","detail":"Rules, alerts and case review."},{"href":"/software/payments","label":"Software for payments","detail":"Payment systems and the compliance work they bring."},{"href":"/software/regtech","label":"Software for regtech","detail":"Compliance and financial crime systems."}],"sources":[{"title":"OFAC, Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List","url":"https://ofac.treasury.gov/specially-designated-nationals-and-blocked-persons-list-sdn-human-readable-lists","checkedAt":"2026-10-25"},{"title":"OFAC, Basic information on OFAC and sanctions (FAQs)","url":"https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/topic/1501","checkedAt":"2026-10-25"}],"legal":true,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}