Embargo Monitoring: Check Transactions before Executing Them
Before executing a transaction, it is important to to determine whether or not it violates a sanctions or embargo list. With Name Matching Transaction, sender and recipient data are checked against entries in black lists. As soon as a transaction is classified as unusual, its execution is temporarily halted.
Criteria for Transaction Control:
- Checking names and aliases against sanction lists and the institution’s own black lists
- Checking booking texts
- Checking payments in and out of countries with economic embargoes
- Checking against BIC Codes (Bank Identifier Code) and SIC Codes (Swiss Interbank Clearing)
- Distinguishing between incoming and outgoing transactions
- Interfaces with SWIFT or other payment systems
When a Hit is Found: Processing of Unusual Financial Transactions
The electronic workflow supports processing of unusual transactions. All decision-making criteria for determining hits are provided by the system, so the compliance officer can decide quickly if a transaction should be executed or not. With such ex-ante checks, time is a critical factor.
Documentation of Unusual Financial Transactions
The documentation can be provided to internal auditing at any time. The reason for stopping a transaction and the processing steps that followed are documented, to ensure complete transparency.
For Embargo Monitoring in the US
The United States government has specific embargo monitoring requirements especially for “dual use” materials.
