AML Compliance: The Top 8

Eight habits that make or break an AML compliance program

Most compliance failures don't come from one dramatic mistake. They come from a handful of everyday habits done well, or done poorly. Here are the four to build into your program and the four to leave behind.

2,100+ global watchlists Sentinel ™ screens against
0.3% confirmed false positive rate across the platform
900+ financial institutions screening with Sentinel ™
30 years building AML and KYC compliance technology
The Fundamentals

The four to build in, and the four to leave behind

Each habit on the left has a mirror image on the right. The difference between them is usually what an examiner finds first.

Do This
Not This
Screen continuously, not just at onboarding

Customer risk changes over time. Real-time monitoring catches what a one-time check misses.

Treat onboarding KYC as one-and-done

A clean customer today can become a PEP or a sanctioned entity tomorrow. The check that mattered last year may not hold this year.

Keep a full, timestamped audit trail

Regulators want to see not just what you decided, but when and why. Document every disposition.

Rely on manual spreadsheet tracking

Spreadsheets break, get lost, and don't hold up in a regulatory examination. The gap shows the moment someone asks for proof.

Apply risk-based due diligence

Match your effort to the actual risk level, not a blanket process applied to every customer the same way.

Apply one-size-fits-all screening

Treating a low-risk retail customer the same as a PEP wastes resources and creates blind spots where they hurt most.

Screen against multiple data sources

Sanctions lists, PEP databases, and adverse media together give a far more complete risk picture than any single source.

Screen against a single list only

OFAC alone won't catch a UN-listed entity or a local PEP. Every coverage gap is a liability gap.

Sentinel ™ covers all four do's, continuously and automatically.

The four good habits are only as good as the system behind them. Sentinel ™ runs continuous screening, maintains a complete audit trail, applies risk-based logic, and screens across thousands of sources at once, all with a 0.3% false positive rate so your team isn't buried in noise.

Continuous monitoring, not one-time checks Automatic, timestamped audit trail Risk-based screening logic 2,100+ sanctions, PEP, and adverse media sources

See how many of the eight your program already covers.

A short walkthrough of Sentinel ™ will show you exactly where continuous screening, audit trails, and multi-source coverage fit into your existing workflow.