Compliance screening of business partners is more relevant than ever right now. Discover how D&B Restricted Party Screening Intelligence makes time-consuming sanction list checks easier.

It’s well-known that caution should be exercised when conducting business with Russia at the moment. Around 100 Russian organisations and more than 1,200 individuals are currently on the EU’s sanction lists, and the numbers are growing.

Sanction risks are often not apparent at first glance

All the more reason for companies to continuously check whether their business partners are directly or indirectly affected by sanctions as a result of ownership structures.

After all, it’s not only Russian business relationships that require examining: People under sanction can also be involved in European, American or other Western companies, which makes the whole thing very complicated. Both the American Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the EU require all people and businesses with at least a 50-percent share in a company to undergo sanction list checks.

Due to the immense amount of time required for this, it is not a task that can reasonably be performed manually – especially as it is not merely a matter of embargoes against Russia. Suspicions of money laundering, corruption and terrorist activities, ESG requirements and the Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations for the Prevention of Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains (LkSG) due to come into force next year also need to be taken into account in a due diligence check.

Automatic comparison creates security

D&B Restricted Party Screening Intelligence from Dun & Bradstreet helps with this. The solution is based on the World Watch Plus screening platform acquired by Dun & Bradstreet and the D&B company database, which contains more than 500 million companies from over 220 countries. The nine-digit D-U-N-S number not only uniquely identifies companies

but also makes it possible to specifically unravel complex corporate interconnections and to determine minority shareholdings, direct and indirect shareholdings and beneficial owners.

‘This is an important aspect for uncovering and keeping an eye on hidden risks,’ says Tobias Bruhn, Director Risk & Compliance Consulting DACH at Dun & Bradstreet. Such interrelations and shareholdings can be identified using either the Dun & Bradstreet Data Blocks or the Company Screening Intelligence Service. This can also be seamlessly integrated with existing business processes via API. ‘The advantage of automated business partner screening is that those responsible can keep a reliable eye on their contacts, always have the latest information at their fingertips, and have time for other tasks,’ says Bruhn. For example, as soon as the circumstances of a company’s ownership change, the Company Screening Intelligence Service identifies the new owners and automatically reports any associated potential risks.

Artificial intelligence reduces false positives and speeds up screening

Another central component of the solution is the Artificial Intelligence Virtual Adjudication Agent (AIVA). Dun & Bradstreet specifically uses artificial intelligence (AI) here to process relevant data from a number of different sources – such as sanction lists, PEP lists or adverse media – and then display clear results that are easy to understand. ‘As the AI engine filters out irrelevant data and false positive results itself, the screening process is speeded up significantly,’ says Bruhn.

Since May 2022, it has been possible to seamlessly integrate D&B Restricted Party Screening Intelligence into existing processes via an API interface and configure it to meet the risk-based screening guidelines of the company in question. Business contacts are then automatically screened against lists that are updated daily before every transaction. New information can be reliably identified using the monitoring function and any necessary measures can be put in place quickly if required.

The functions offered by D&B Restricted Party Screening Intelligence

• Available as a web tool and API integration
• Comparison against global sanction lists and watch lists
• Checks of PEP lists (politically exposed persons)
• Checks of adverse media data (compliance-relevant, negative media reporting)
• Online check of the screening results
• Online evaluation of the screening results
• Business partner check via D&B Data Blocks or Company Screening
• Intelligence Service
• Artificial Intelligence Virtual Adjudication (AIVA) for significant reduction of false positives
• Daily updates (monitoring)
• Flexible product configuration

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