Customer Watchlist Check
Table of Contents
Use Case:
Organizations need to ensure they do not conduct business with customers who appear on government-issued sanctions, exclusions, or other public watchlists. Transacting with sanctioned companies or individuals can expose an organization to significant regulatory, financial, and reputational risk.
The Customer Watchlist Check analytic compares customer records against several publicly available government watchlists, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, Consolidated Sanctions List, and the U.S. General Services Administration's SAM Exclusions List. Potential matches are identified using customer information such as name, address, or a combination of both, and each match is assigned a confidence score between 0 and 100. Higher confidence scores indicate a stronger likelihood of a true match, helping organizations prioritize the most relevant results for review. By identifying potential watchlist matches early, organizations can strengthen third-party due diligence efforts, reduce regulatory risk, and support compliance with sanctions and exclusion requirements.
| Description | Identifies customers that potentially match entries on publicly available government watchlists, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, Consolidated Sanctions List, and the U.S. General Services Administration's SAM Exclusions List. Matches are evaluated using customer name, address, or a combination of both. |
| Domain(s) | Customer Revenue |
| Analysis Type | Flag |
| Focus Area | Third Party Risk |
| Score Methodology | Match confidence score (0–100). Exact or stronger matches receive higher scores. |
Default Scoring Criteria
Importance: 3 (default)
Enabled: True (default)
| Risk Result | Default Value | Notation |
|---|---|---|
| Weak | 92 | Match Score |
| Moderate | 96 | |
| Strong | 99 | |
| Auto | Not Set |
Unique Configuration
The Customer Watchlist Check analytic compares Payer Customer names and addresses against three publicly available U.S. government watchlists:
- GSA System for Award Management (SAM) Exclusions: Identifies individuals and organizations excluded from federal contracts, subcontracts, or certain federal assistance programs. Firms, individuals, and special entities are included, while vessels are excluded.
- OFAC Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List: Identifies sanctioned individuals and organizations whose assets are blocked. Aircraft and vessels are excluded.
- OFAC Consolidated Sanctions List: Includes records from several OFAC sanctions programs, some of which may also appear on the SDN List. Aircraft and vessels are excluded.
Depending on the watchlist, comparisons may use:
- Customer name
- Customer address
- Customer name and address combined
- Alternate or “also known as” names
The analytic performs an initial comparison using the beginning characters of the applicable name or address before completing the full match assessment.
Exclusions
- None