The short answer
To screen a company for sanctions, resolve the exact legal entity, identify its officers and owners, check all of them against the major lists — the US OFAC SDN list, the EU consolidated financial sanctions list, the UN Security Council consolidated list and the UK Sanctions List — and grade every hit by the evidence behind it: identifier matches are confirmed, exact names with a corroborating attribute are probable, and name-only matches need review. Then re-screen on a schedule, because the lists change constantly.
At a glance
- Core lists
- OFAC SDN · EU consolidated · UN consolidated · UK Sanctions List
- Also useful
- SAM.gov exclusions, UK FCA warning list, PEP screen
- Who to screen
- The company, its officers and its owners
- Match grading
- Confirmed · probable · possible
- Frequency
- At onboarding, then on a schedule
- Caveat
- Decision support, not a regulated AML programme
Sanctions screening, step by step
- 1
Resolve the legal entity
Pin down the exact company with its registration number, LEI or other identifier, so you screen the right entity and can recognise identifier matches.
- 2
Identify officers and owners
Collect directors, officers and beneficial owners from registers and filings. Ownership matters because restrictions can extend to entities owned by sanctioned persons.
- 3
Screen every list
Check the company and each person against OFAC SDN, the EU, UN and UK consolidated lists, plus relevant exclusion and warning lists and a PEP screen.
- 4
Grade each hit
Confirmed: an identifier or date of birth plus nationality matches. Probable: exact name or alias plus a corroborating attribute and no conflicting identifier. Possible: name-only or partial.
- 5
Investigate probable and possible hits
Compare the list entry’s details — addresses, dates, nationalities, aliases — with what you know. Document why you cleared or escalated each hit.
- 6
Re-screen on a schedule
Lists are updated several times a week, some on every designation. Re-screen counterparties regularly, not only at onboarding.
Why are most sanctions hits false positives?
Lists are matched on names, and names collide — across languages, transliterations and common surnames. Screening every fuzzy match as a hit produces a flood of alerts that hides the rare real one. Grading by evidence is what makes screening usable.
How does MarketPrior automate sanctions screening?
MarketPrior screens the company, its officers and its owners against the OFAC SDN list, the EU, UN and UK lists, SAM.gov exclusions, the UK FCA warning list, the UK disqualified-directors register and a PEP screen, reading each list on its own cadence. Every hit is tiered confirmed, probable or possible; only confirmed and probable hits count toward the verdict, and “AVOID — SANCTIONED” appears only on an identifier match.
Monitored companies are re-screened daily, weekly or monthly, with sanctions checked daily within a re-screen, and a new hit arrives as an alert with its source.
MarketPrior is decision support. Firms with regulatory sanctions or AML obligations should use it alongside their compliance programme.