We're a multiple award-winning firm and one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the UK - find out how we got to where we are today.
We are always looking for talented individuals to join our growing team - if you are highly motivated with a positive attitude we want to hear from you.
Discover the latest events we will be hosting, exhibiting, and attending, where you can learn more about our industry-leading digital compliance solutions.
Discover key industry news and insights with our latest resources, including whitepapers, press releases, and video content.
Read all our latest news and views plus all the latest on what's going on in the industry.
Including FAQs, a glossary of terms and information on how to use our award-winning system, our help centre should tell you everything you need to know.
Find out how we have helped some of the UK's leading law, accountancy, finance, insurance, property and investment firms transform their businesses with our award-winning products and services.
Any financial sanctions which are imposed by the United Nations must be implemented by the countries they are relevant to – they can use Resolutions passed by the UN Security Council to do this.
The European Union must also implement all financial sanctions which are imposed by the UN, but the EU can impose its own financial sanctions on member states too, including the UK.
The United Kingdom has some measures in place to ensure that EU and UN sanctions are adhered to. According the OFSI, there are regulations which will ‘impose penalties for breaches of EU regulations’. In some circumstances, the UK also has the capacity to impose its own domestic sanctions, under legislation like the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, or the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.
Screening sanctions lists for your potential customer or client is an important element of AML compliance, and your company’s risk-based approach. This is because it is illegal to do business with an individual, corporation or country that has been sanctioned, if that business breaks the terms of the restrictions in place against them.
There are some exceptions to this law, but even in these instances you need a license to work with anyone who has been sanctioned. Whether your dealings with a sanctioned customer are conscious or not, they increase how vulnerable your business is to financial crimes like money laundering.
Even if you do have access to all the sanctions lists required to do a thorough screening, carrying out these checks manually is a time-consuming, inefficient process, with no guarantee that you won’t miss something.
SmartSearch’s sophisticated platform carries out an automated screening for sanctions as part of a series of comprehensive AML checks. Using the Dow Jones WatchList, which is comprised of 1,100 different databases worldwide, we can find a match for your potential customer or client, even if they’re registered with a nickname or an abbreviation. We weed out the false positives too, so you won’t waste time carrying out due diligence on the wrong individual.
By submitting your email address, you consent to us sending you emails about news, case studies, resources and updates. To find out more, visit our Privacy Policy.