Swift launches Sanctions Screening

SWIFT developed the Sanctions Screening service to help its community keep up with increasing regulatory obligations. Complying with evolving sanctions regulations and frequently updated lists has become more complex, costly and time-consuming for financial institutions.

SWIFT's Sanctions Screening service combines FircoSoft's market-leading filtering application and list update service with the security and resilience of SWIFT to provide a reliable service that helps small- and medium-sized financial institutions comply with the sanctions laws under which they operate.

Thanks to its unique position in the international payments business and by operating and maintaining the Sanctions Screening service centrally, SWIFT is able to offer a shared, cost-effective, zero-footprint service that is easy to implement.

Brigitte De Wilde, Head of AML and Sanctions Initiatives, SWIFT, says, "Our industry is faced with increasing regulatory demands that prove a heavy burden on operational costs. SWIFT is committed to helping our customers reduce cost and increase operational efficiency. Our new Sanctions Screening service offers a straightforward 'subscribe and comply' solution. Through our collaboration with FircoSoft for the sanctions filter and lists, we are able to offer a best-in-class service and take away the hassle of updating lists in back-office systems."

Users of the Sanctions Screening service will be able to request selected SWIFT FIN messages be routed to the centralised screening application, where they will be filtered in real time, and checked against customers' selected sanctions lists. If there is no match to the sanctions list, the message will be delivered as usual. If there is a match, customers will be asked to instruct SWIFT as to whether to release, block or flag the message via an alert management system.