What is embargo / sanctions screening?
Embargo screening (also known as sanctions screening or denied-party screening) is the systematic process of checking customers, counterparties, beneficial owners, intermediaries, and transactions against published sanctions lists and embargo regimes. The process operates at multiple touchpoints: customer onboarding (KYC), transaction processing, periodic re-screening (lists change daily), and adverse media monitoring. Effective embargo screening protects against severe penalties under US OFAC, EU restrictive measures, UK OFSI, UN Security Council resolutions, and other regimes.
Primary sanctions lists screened
- US OFAC SDN: Specially Designated Nationals.
- US Treasury Non-SDN Lists: Sectoral Sanctions Identifications (SSI), Foreign Sanctions Evaders (FSE), Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Non-SDN Iran Sanctions.
- US Commerce Entity List: licensed export restrictions.
- US State Dept Debarred List: ITAR-debarred parties.
- EU Consolidated Sanctions: aggregated EU restrictive measures.
- UN Security Council: Al-Qaida/ISIL, Taliban, North Korea, Libya, etc.
- UK OFSI Consolidated List: UK-specific designations.
- National lists: Australia DFAT, Canada OSFI, Japan METI.
Screening operational components
- Name matching engine: phonetic, fuzzy, transliteration (Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese script matching).
- 50% / aggregate ownership lookup: traces beneficial ownership against SDN parties.
- Vessel/port screening: ship registries, port-of-call tracking for sanctioned vessels.
- Adverse media: PEP (politically exposed persons), corruption, sanctions news.
- Alert resolution workflow: false-positive handling, investigation, escalation, regulator reporting.
Türk şirketleri için embargo screening
Türk bankaları, fintech’leri ve büyük e-ticaret şirketleri MASAK Travel Rule, BDDK BSA uyumu ve uluslararası correspondent banking gereksinimleri çerçevesinde otomatik embargo screening (Refinitiv World-Check, Dow Jones, LexisNexis, Accuity) entegre eder. KVKK ve MASAK kapsamında screening sonuçları (kişisel veri olduğundan) düzenleyici tutma süreleriyle (5-10 yıl) saklanmalıdır. Türk şirketleri için en kritik liste setleri: OFAC SDN + AB Consolidated + UN — Türk yargı bölgesinde işlem yapanlara doğrudan etki eder; UK OFSI ise Londra finansal merkeziyle bağlantılı işlemlerde gerek.
Do: use multi-source screening (single-vendor risk too high); document alert resolution rationale; refresh screening at least monthly (sanctions lists update daily).
Don’t: bypass screening for “trusted” counterparties — sanctions designations change overnight, and “previously safe” parties become SDN-listed without warning.