Melissa, provider of data quality; identity verification; and address management solutions, recently advised expanding negative news screening operations, also known as adverse media screening (AMS), to businesses and individuals being onboarded to financial organizations.
The company stated that AMS has become increasingly more important in customer due diligence operations, where organizations are required to perform Know Your Customer, Combating the Financing of Terrorism, and anti-money laundering checks.
In addition, Melissa recommended the automation of AMS operations so that businesses can achieve a well-rounded compliance program to prevent fraud and financial crime.
“It is a real challenge for organizations to ensure their required compliance processes are smooth and seamless for customers, checks that typically consist of screening against politically exposed persons and global sanctions lists,” said Bud Walker, vice president of enterprise sales and strategy at Melissa. “Automated adverse media screening is a valuable addition to these standard processes, checking for negative news related to an individual or business even if they may not appear on any international watchlist. It’s critical to developing the most accurate risk profile for customers in the financial sector, as well as markets such as insurance, healthcare, or non-profit – anywhere employees in senior-level roles, prospective clients, or business partners may pose risk to operations or reputation.”
The AMS services provided by Melissa offer several third-party global data sources, including newspapers, magazines, TV, social media, radio, and press releases, leveraged to check an individual’s background for anything negative.
The processes are also automated so that AMS project management is no longer bogged down by alerts that are time-intensive to consider and remediate manually.
According to Melissa, AMS screens focus on signs of money laundering, financial fraud, drug trafficking, financial threats or organized crime, terrorism, cybercrime, violent or sexual crimes, and appearances on past or present sanctions lists worldwide.
Furthermore, Melissa suggested multiple best practices in AMS processes, such as a wider screening approach to reach beyond current and new customers to access related account parties and beneficial owners of associated organizations, corporate structures, or assets.
To learn more about Melissa’s adverse media screening tool visit the website.
