A screening match occurs when an individual person, Legal Entity or transaction being screened shows a potential connection to a record in a risk-related database. This could include matches against Sanctions List, Politically Exposed Person (PEP) databases, watchlists, law enforcement records or adverse media sources. Screening is a key part of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures, designed to detect and assess financial crime risk before and ideally also during a business relationship.

A screening match does not automatically confirm risk or wrongdoing. It indicates that there is enough similarity between the screened subject and a known high-risk individual or entity to warrant further investigation. Matches may be based on names, aliases, dates of birth, locations or associations with other flagged entities. In many cases, the initial match may turn out to be a false positive, especially if the names are common or if the data is incomplete.

Once a match is identified, compliance teams must review the details and context to determine whether it is a true match. If confirmed, the next steps may include conducting Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), escalating the case internally or filing a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) with the appropriate Regulatory Authority. Proper handling of screening matches is essential to avoiding regulatory penalties and protecting the organization from financial crime exposure.