Sanctions and KYC glossary

Short, sourced definitions of 20 core compliance operations terms.

July 12, 2026

1. Sanctions screening

Comparing person or organization identity data with records in selected sanctions lists.

“Know Your Customer”; processes for understanding a customer’s identity, activity and risk context.

A screening result requiring closer review because of similarity in names or other data.

An organization’s decision that the screened party and list record refer to the same party.

A result assessed as a different party after contextual review despite initial similarity.

A politically exposed person whose role or relationships may require increased scrutiny.

The natural person who ultimately owns or controls an organization.

Collecting and verifying information to understand customer identity, purpose and risk.

Deeper information collection and approval applied to higher-risk circumstances.

Scheduled re-screening of active records against selected sources.

A review object that connects investigation, assignment, notes and decisions for a potential match.

The chain of input, source, time, actor, change and outcome for an operation.

An official or authoritative data publication used for screening comparisons.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The Financial Crimes Investigation Board of Türkiye’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance.

A list combining records from multiple sanctions regimes or decisions into one publication.

The selected set of data sources available to a screening or API key.

Screening many person or organization records as a controlled file or job.

A product unit used to measure screening usage within a plan.

Routing an uncertain or higher-risk case to a more authorized or specialist review.