Solutions | AML Sanctions Screening

AML Guide for the Insurance Industry

With their access to large sums of money and long-term contracts, insurance companies are prime targets for money laundering schemes. This guide outlines the steps insurance firms must take to detect and prevent money laundering while complying with AML regulations.

Money Laundering and Insurance Companies

The nature of insurance products, particularly those with cash value, makes them attractive for criminals looking to launder money. Common methods of exploitation include:

Purchasing policies with illicit funds and attempting to redeem them later;
Using intermediaries to structure transactions and hide the source of funds; and
Taking advantage of the cooling-off periods or refunds for overpayments to clean illegal money.

Key areas where money laundering risks arise in insurance include:


Single-Premium Contracts


Criminals may buy single-premium contracts with illicit funds and later seek to recover the money through fraudulent claims or policy cancellations.


Annuity Policies


Money launderers often use these long-term savings vehicles to convert illegal funds into legitimate payouts.


Cooling-Off Periods


The ability to cancel a policy and receive a refund during the cooling-off period can be exploited. Launderers may overpay premiums or surrender policies at a loss to retrieve illicit funds while minimizing suspicion.

AML Regulations in the Insurance Industry

To prevent money laundering, insurance companies must comply with stringent AML regulations. This includes implementing procedures to detect suspicious activities, ensuring due diligence, and maintaining robust systems for reporting illegal activity.


Know Your Customer (KYC) Requirements

KYC compliance is essential for the insurance industry. Insurance firms must:

  • Gather personal information to verify customer identities;
  • Ensure they understand the purpose of the insurance policy being purchased;
  • Identify the ultimate beneficiaries and owners of insurance products to assess risk and
  • Continually assess whether the nature of the policy is consistent with the customer's profile.

This process helps to ensure that the individuals and entities purchasing insurance products are legitimate, and it serves as a crucial first step in detecting suspicious activity.


Sanctions lists


Our Sanctions Database covers Sanctions Lists from OFAC, Canada, HM Treasury, EU, Australia and many more regions and organisations globally.

Supported Sanctions Lists

PEP data


Our Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) database covers about 1million records from every country worldwide. Lists also include family members and close associates of PEPs.


Global PEP Data

Crime Watchlists


Our Crime Database includes more than 8k records from Interpol and the FBI. More Watchlists are being added continuously
*Only available on our Standard Plan

Crime and Watchlist Data

Adverse media


Bolster your AML compliance with our global adverse media data screening. Screen against more than 60k global news sources with custom keywords.

Adverse Media

Key Industries Solutions

We provide vital support to compliance teams across a wide array of sectors, including FinTechs, enterprise SaaS providers, InsurTechs, cryptocurrency firms, and many more.

For a detailed guide on how AML Sanctions Screening applies to your industry, click the relevant icon below.


Global Sanctions Lists

The sanctions lists below are included in every sanctions data subscription. Additional sanctions lists can be included on request, please contact support for more information.

United States

Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC)

Specially Designated Nationals (SDN), Consolidated Sanctions List (Non-SDN) and various additional sanctions lists (MBS, CCMC, CMIC, CAPTA, FSE, PLC, SSI)

Canada

Global Affairs Canada

Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List incl. Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act.

United States

Department of State (DoS)

ITAR Debarred (ITAR), Nonproliferation Sanctions (ISN), Cuba Restricted List

United States

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

Entity List (EL), Denied Persons List (DPL), Military End User List (MEU), Unverified List (UVL)

United States

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

311 Special Measures

United States

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List (UFLPA)

United States

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Withhold Release Orders

Argentina

Ministry of Justice

Public Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and Financing (RePET)

Brazil

Brazil Central Bank

Register of persons disqualified from senior roles, and Entities Prohibited from Offering Auditing Services

Brazil

Brazil Federal Government

Empresas Inidรดneas e Suspensas (Disreputable and Suspended Companies)

Brazil

Brazil Tribunal de Contas da Uniรฃo (TCU)

List of individuals disqualified from public service and debarred bidders


* Additional sanctions lists can be added on demand. Just reach out to our Customer Success Team.

Politically Exposed Persons

What are Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)?

Domestic Politically Exposed Person (DPEP)

These are individuals who hold prominent public positions within their own country.

This includes:

  • Heads of state or government
  • Senior politicians, government ministers, and judiciary officials
  • Senior executives of state-owned corporations
  • High-ranking military officials.They are classified as DPEPs due to their potential access to public resources, which could make them vulnerable to corruption or abuse of power.

Foreign Politically Exposed Person (FPEP)

These are individuals who hold, or have held, similar high-level roles in foreign countries. FPEPs are foreign officials or their associates who might also be in a position to abuse their influence for personal or financial gain.

Examples include:

  • Foreign heads of state or government officials
  • Senior politicians or diplomats from foreign governments
  • Foreign judges or military leaders

Domestic Politically Influenceable Person (DPIP) - Family Members

These are close relatives of Domestic PEPs (DPEPs).

Family members can include:

  • Spouses or partners
  • Children and their spouses or partners
  • Parents, siblings, or other close relatives. Due to their relationship with a politically exposed person, they may have access to privileged information or influence, which makes them susceptible to exploitation or corruption.
  • Close associates are individuals who are closely connected to a PEP, either socially or professionally.

Foreign Politically Influenceable Person (FPIP) - Close Associates

These are individuals who maintain close business or personal relationships with Foreign PEPs (FPEPs).

A close associate could be:

  • Business partners
  • Close friends or advisers
  • Legal representatives or those with significant control over a PEPโ€™s assets FPIPs are often involved in business dealings or transactions that may raise concerns about conflicts of interest or the misuse of political connections.
  • Close associates are individuals who are closely connected to a PEP, either socially or professionally.

Each of these classifications is used in anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) processes to identify and mitigate risks associated with potential corruption or financial crimes. Identifying these individuals helps institutions flag potentially suspicious activities that may be linked to political influence.

Smart screening technology for effective AML compliance

Less False Positives and False Negatives


Name matching is the real challenge in Sanctions & AML compliance. Transliteration issues, nicknames, honorifics, and spelling errors are some of the factors that make name screening a challenge. This cannot be solved with simple fuzzy algorithms.

Our industry-leading screening technology is based on the latest research and achievements in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) used by organisations such as Amazon, LinkedIn, and U.S. Homeland Security.


This technology helps reduce false positives significantly, while making sure that no real matches slip through the cracks.

Easily integrated into your own system environment

Integrate Business Partner Screening with your own system environment by simply using our REST API, our Sanctions Database Exporter option, or our pre-built integrations for SAP, BigID and API3 Airnode.


Sanctions & AML API


Developer friendly, easy to implement and Enterprise-ready RESTful API with a guaranteed uptime of more than 99.99% and > ~200ms response time.


Batch AML


Through batch verification, businesses can efficiently manage and update large volumes of data, ensuring compliance with ease.


Integrations


Easily integrate our AML sanctions screening into your system environment using our pre-built connectors and apps.

Crime Watchlists

Complement your AML Screening with Criminal Watchlists Data



FBI and Interpol Data


Gain access to our comprehensive global Criminal Watchlists database covering more than 8k records.


Updated Every 60 Minutes


Mitigate sanctions risk with hourly data updates. Audit relevant timestamps for increased transparency.


Smart Matching Technology


Maximise the benefits of our screening technology: Significantly reduce false negatives and false positives, and boost accuracy.


FBI and Interpol Watchlists


Image

FBI's Most Wanted & Fugitives


The FBI's Most Wanted list is maintained by the FBI and publicly available on their website. Removal from the list typically occurs only upon capture, death, or dropped charges.

*Only available on our Standard Plan

Why AML compliance is important

For businesses to actively prevent financial loss and reputational damage, it's crucial that comprehensive due diligence processes are carried out. 

Datanamix’s due diligence product suite includes AML (anti-money laundering) sanctions screening, PEP (PIP) data, Adverse Media and Crime data – all customisable depending on your specific industry, and unique business needs.


Datanamix offers a suite of AML Sanction Screening products to enable the right level of risk mitigation for every class of business – from accountable institutions bound by the FIC Act, to SMEs simply looking to protect their interests.


Datanamix due diligence product suite includes AML (anti-money laundering) Sanctions Screening, PEP (PIP) data, Adverse Media and Crime Data โ€“ all customisable depending on your specific industry, and unique business needs.

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Adverse Media

Adverse Media Screening is the process of monitoring public sources, like news and social media, to detect negative information about individuals or organisations. It helps businesses identify risks such as criminal activity, fraud, or regulatory violations, which could harm their reputation or legal standing. Used for risk assessment and compliance (e.g., anti-money laundering or Know Your Customer regulations), adverse media screening is often automated to handle large volumes of data and provide real-time alerts. It's a key part of due diligence and risk management strategies.

60k News Sources


Custom Keywords


Global Coverage

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