How to Use Screening Tools and Software to Streamline Your PEP Risk Management Process?
How overwhelmed is your compliance team with manual PEP screening and risk management? Maintaining accurate records of politically exposed persons and carrying out regular screening can be rather time-consuming if it is done manually. “With the right PEP screening solution in place, we’ve been better equipped to deal with the strategic management of risks rather than the administration.” Jane Doe, Compliance Officer. Integrate an automated screening tool into existing workflows for the automation of repetitive, daily checks and due diligence activities for greater efficiency, and give your team more time for risk-based monitoring and mitigation efforts. Now, how do you choose the right PEP screening software for the organization? Learn to choose.
How to Select Appropriate PEP Screening Tools?
There are lots of PEP screening tools available in the market that can help you with your PEP screening. Go for one that suits your needs and risks by considering coverage of politicians worldwide, integration into your prevailing systems, and a high frequency of database updates. This shall help capture all necessary PEPs and avoid missing risks. In 2023, over 75% of organizations said they could get better compliance when carrying out work using tools with live updates.
Configuration of tool settings according to your needs
As every organization has different risk exposure conditions, it is proper to fine-tune the settings of your PEP screening requirements. In this way, one will be able to adapt the screening rules, risk thresholds, and types of PEPs that justify additional due diligence. The time spent getting the tool up and running through its setup will dramatically increase the effectiveness of the tool in powering your overall PEP screening process.
Bonus: To find out more about how Financial’s PEP screening software can help your organization better manage PEP risk, contact our compliance experts today.
Setting screening thresholds and risk levels
Risk-based PEP screening involves setting bright thresholds and risk levels that set the level of due diligence for different match results. You don’t want to spend your time screening low-risk common names, although high-risk exact matches are investigatory. Proper calibration of these screening thresholds and association risk levels optimizes your PEP screening process to focus efforts on actual risks and skip superficial names. Those organizations that attenuated risk levels within their framework in 2023 recorded a 25% drop in manual reviews.
Automatic Collection of Data and Controls
The manual gathering of data and verification of customer PEP information is time-consuming and error-prone. Much of this will be automatable with your PEP screening software. It can automatically search several sources and watchlists for potential matches of PEPs. After that, checks will be executed to verify their identity. All this alleviates your team from the tedium associated with data entry and lookups. You will be able to make your overall PEP screening process more efficient by automating PEP data collection and checks through the software.
Generating clear and helpful reporting
Advanced PEP screening software packages will come up with some valuable reporting features and insights. Dashboards that show performance metrics and risk trends over time. Detailed match reports with context to results. All while making it easy with exception lists to ensure appropriate follow-up. When deciding on the PEP screening solution, consider how well such solutions should generate reporting from your PEP checks and data.
Turn raw screening output into strategic intelligence for compliance digitally, making it into precise and customized reports. The integration with many other systems means it operates as a seamless system. Look for software solutions that easily interoperate with your current systems, making it easy for your business to apply PEP screening.
These include CRM, customer onboarding, and KYC/CDD systems. If it is seamlessly integrated into existing systems, it will eliminate redundancy in data input. Screening results on PEPs will then flow automatically where they should. All the relevant data lives in one place. This kind of interoperability maximizes accuracy in screenings and workflow efficiencies. In 2023, 68% of businesses reported that the use of integrated PEP screening software resulted in a significant amount of time being saved on PEP-related processes.
Ongoing Risk Management Monitoring
Setting up PEP screening software is not enough; there needs to be ongoing monitoring since risks may change over time.
Advanced PEP screening tools can do this. For example, advanced PEP screening tools can monitor news sources and blacklists against updated PEP information and set up an alert system when an existing customer is flagged. Due diligence refreshing can also be scheduled through risk assessments. This PEP screening software ensures total support towards your overall PEP risk assessment process through its continuous monitoring facility.
Continued Support and Enhancement
Compliance requirements and technologies change very fast. For this reason, selecting PEP screening software with reliable support is critical. Be sure to select a vendor who guides new regulations or methods of doing things. They should be able to offer technical assistance that enables users to use all the features offered. Regular software upgrades will help in keeping the solution working at its optimum capacity since needs keep changing.
Proper PEP risk is dependent on fulfilling requirements. Dedicated support resources ensure your PEP screening processes remain compliant over time, while up-to-date upgrades and assistance will ensure the software continues to meet your evolving PEP screening needs. One of the most important ways to optimize compliance workflows is automating PEP screening with the right tool.