In recent years, financial institutions have faced more pressure to identify politically exposed persons (PEPs) to minimize financial crimes. Screening for these types of people allows these institutions to create risk profiles and actively monitor them for illegal money laundering, corruption, bribing, or other financial crimes. Open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools have emerged as effective for enhancing these screening processes, carving a path to decreased financial risk, and fundamentally changing the way that institutions screen for PEPs. In our previous post, we discussed the definition of PEPs and why it is important to screen for them. In this post, we’ll explore PEP screening best practices, and how OSINT tools can enhance them.

How OSINT tools can help

The financial institutions (FIs) that are most effective in screening for PEPs and mitigating risk have some best practices in common:

Creation of a robust risk profile

When creating a risk profile, some institutions fall short by failing to include enough relevant information about PEPs. An exemplary risk profile should include the following information:

Full name
Date of birth
Gender
Domestic or foreign (if foreign, which country)
Politically exposed role
Timeframe of exposure
Important press reports
Close relationships and associations

The inclusion of extensive information makes it significantly easier to analyze the full risk posed by PEPs. There are endless factors that contribute to a PEPs involvement in crime, but each additional piece of information enhances the profile and makes it easier to quantify the risk. The more depth achieved in the profile, the easier it is to justify risk assessments and make accurate statements.

OSINT tools can enhance this practice by making it quicker and easier to add depth to a profile. OSINT tools can provide access to massive volumes of data and analyze them for adverse media screening or derogatory mentions across social media platforms. By retrieving information that is not readily available to normal internet users, such as that found on the deep web, OSINT tools can help compliance analysts create risk profiles significantly faster than they could performing manual research.[1]

Staff training and awareness

Regular training and onboarding programs on PEP screening are an effective practice. This ensures that employees, both old and new, are aware of the importance of PEP screening and the consequences of failing to address and mitigate these financial risks. Adopting an institution-wide commitment to proper risk management strategies contributes to the health of the company.

If employees are trained on OSINT tools and platforms, it gives them the ability to complete screening tasks efficiently and easily. Most OSINT tools are easy to integrate and teach, so the benefits of quick customer due diligence at a granular level make this tool very impactful.

Ongoing PEP screening for customers

Although the initial PEP screening during the customer acquisition process is important, ongoing screening is arguably more important to successfully mitigating risk. As an example, risk profiles can be affected by global events, such as elections, economic downturns, or wars. Significant negative events often impact the willingness of PEPs to commit financial crimes. If ongoing screening does not occur, fluctuations in risk are almost guaranteed to be missed due to passage of time and global events.

PEP screening is essential for financial institutions to decrease the risk of being involved in financial crimes such as money laundering, bribery, and corruption. To prevent these crimes and maintain a positive brand reputation, it is crucial for financial institutions to implement effective practices for their PEP screening.

OSINT tools provide access to diverse data sources, real-time updates, deep web searches, automated alerts, and streamlined reporting. By integrating OSINT tools into their PEP screening processes, financial institutions can improve their ability to identify and monitor PEPs, ultimately safeguarding their operations and public image.