What is Sanctions Screening?
“Sanctions screening is the practice of checking whether an individual, entity, or wallet appears on government-imposed restriction lists (OFAC, EU, UN, UK FCA) before doing business with them.”
Definition
Governments maintain sanctions lists naming individuals and entities prohibited from doing business in their jurisdictions. The most-cited list is OFAC SDN (US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control's Specially Designated Nationals). The EU maintains a consolidated list. The UN maintains a global terrorism list. The UK FCA maintains its own. Modern compliance requires checking new counterparties against these lists at onboarding and continuously thereafter.
Skopio's wallet, name, and dossier categories include sanctions-list screening across OFAC, EU, UN consolidated, and UK FCA lists. Result: pass/fail with the matching record if any. Important: OSINT-grade sanctions screening is decision-support, not regulatory-grade compliance. For binding compliance you need a dedicated vendor (Refinitiv World-Check, Dow Jones Risk, LSEG Worldcheck) with curated false-positive resolution, audit trail, and regulator-acceptable data lineage. Skopio provides the quick OSINT layer; pair with a regulated vendor for binding compliance.
Real-world examples
- 1
A bank screening a new corporate customer against OFAC SDN before opening accounts
- 2
A crypto exchange checking incoming wallet addresses against OFAC's SDN-specially-designated wallets list
- 3
An importer verifying a new supplier isn't on any sanctions list
- 4
A real-estate agent checking a buyer's name against EU sanctions before closing
- 5
A law firm screening prospective clients to avoid representing sanctioned individuals
Related glossary terms
Frequently asked questions
Is Skopio's sanctions check regulator-grade?+
No. It's OSINT-grade screening using publicly published OFAC/EU/UN lists. For binding regulator-acceptable compliance, use World-Check or equivalent. Skopio is the fast pre-screen before the formal compliance check.
How current is the sanctions data?+
Updated weekly. OFAC publishes updates roughly weekly; EU updates roughly monthly. Skopio refreshes within 7 days of publication.
What if I get a false positive?+
Common with sanctions screening — many sanctioned names have multiple ordinary spellings. Skopio returns the matching record so you can manually verify. For binding compliance, your regulator-grade vendor handles false-positive resolution with audit trail.
Are crypto wallets covered?+
Yes. OFAC publishes specifically-designated wallet addresses (over 1,000 entries as of 2026). Skopio's wallet category screens against these automatically.
What's the difference between sanctions and PEP?+
Sanctions: explicitly prohibited business. PEP (Politically Exposed Person): heightened risk, requires enhanced due diligence but not prohibition. Many regulators require both checks.
Prueba Skopio para flujos de Sanctions Screening (OFAC)
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