Build Your Own Watchlist & Adverse Media Engine with APIs

Composable APIs for Granular ControlLeverage modular APIs to design a screening engine tailored to your specific risk appetite and regulatory requirements, moving beyond one-size-fits-all solutions.

Comprehensive Data Coverage is KeyIntegrate over 1300 global watchlists, including sanctions, PEPs, and real-time adverse media, to ensure thorough risk identification and compliance.

Automate and Orchestrate WorkflowsUtilize no-code orchestration and structured metadata to automate decision-making, reduce manual review, and streamline your compliance operations.

Didit's AI-Native AdvantageDidit provides the essential building blocks with Free Core KYC, modular architecture, and AI-native capabilities, making advanced AML screening accessible and efficient.

The Need for Custom AML Screening Engines

In today's rapidly evolving regulatory landscape, a generic Anti-Money Laundering (AML) screening solution often falls short. Businesses, especially those operating in high-risk sectors or across multiple jurisdictions, require a more nuanced approach. Building a custom watchlist and adverse media screening engine offers unparalleled flexibility, allowing you to adapt to new threats, comply with specific regulations, and optimize your risk management strategy. This approach moves away from rigid, black-box solutions towards a transparent, composable system that puts you in control.

A custom engine, powered by composable APIs, means you can integrate the exact data sources you need, define your own risk parameters, and automate decision flows with precision. This is particularly crucial for compliance teams who need to understand the 'why' behind a risk flag and adjust their processes accordingly. The ability to tailor your screening to specific customer segments, geographical regions, or product offerings can significantly enhance efficiency and reduce false positives, ultimately saving time and resources.

Key Components of a Robust Screening Engine

Building an effective AML screening engine requires integrating several critical components. At its core, the engine must perform comprehensive checks against various data sources to identify potential risks. Didit's AML Screening & Monitoring product offers a powerful foundation for these components:

• Global Watchlist and Sanctions Screening: This includes screening against over 1300 global databases, such as OFAC SDN, UN, EU, and HM Treasury sanctions lists, as well as law enforcement watchlists like FBI/Interpol Most Wanted. Comprehensive coverage is paramount to ensure no stone is left unturned in identifying sanctioned individuals or entities.
• Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and Relatives/Close Associates (RCAs): Identifying PEPs and their connections is vital for assessing heightened corruption and bribery risks. A robust engine should cover PEPs across various tiers, including heads of state, officials, and their close associates.
• Adverse Media and Negative News Screening: Beyond official lists, real-time adverse media scanning is crucial. This involves analyzing global news sources (Didit covers 50k+) and tagging records across 415+ risk categories. Structured sentiment analysis helps identify allegations, investigations, convictions, and reputational issues that might not yet appear on official watchlists.
• Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing: Screening for individuals or entities associated with fraud, money laundering, corruption, tax evasion, drug trafficking, and terrorism financing is a non-negotiable aspect of modern AML compliance.

Each of these components provides critical data points that, when combined, create a holistic risk profile for an individual or entity.

Leveraging Composable APIs for Flexibility and Control

The true power of building a custom screening engine lies in the use of composable APIs. Instead of being locked into a vendor's pre-defined workflow, APIs allow you to pick and choose the exact identity verification and AML checks you need. Didit's developer-first approach means you can integrate our AML Screening capabilities seamlessly into your existing systems.

Composable APIs enable:

• Granular Data Access: Access detailed AML screening reports, including hit details, risk scores, match scores, PEP matches, sanctions data, and adverse media intelligence. This structured data is crucial for informed decision-making.
• Custom Workflow Orchestration: Design your own verification flows. For instance, you might trigger a deeper adverse media search only if an initial watchlist screen returns a partial match. Didit's no-code orchestration engine allows compliance teams to easily configure these conditional logic rules without developer intervention.
• Dynamic Risk Scoring: Combine data from various sources (e.g., ID Verification, AML Screening, Proof of Address) to create a dynamic and comprehensive risk score tailored to your specific business context.
• Automated Remediation: Based on the screening outcome, automatically route cases for manual review, trigger additional questionnaires (Didit's Questionnaires feature), or approve/decline users, reducing operational overhead.

This modularity ensures that your AML engine is not only powerful but also highly adaptable to future regulatory changes or business needs.

Implementing Adverse Media Screening Effectively

Adverse media screening, while crucial, can be challenging due to the sheer volume of unstructured data. An effective engine needs to go beyond simple keyword searches. Didit's approach to adverse media includes:

• Semantic Analysis: Understanding the context and sentiment of news articles, not just the presence of a name. Didit's Adverse Media Details include sentiment scores (e.g., Slightly Negative, Moderately Negative, Highly Negative) and adverse keywords.
• Entity Resolution: Accurately linking news mentions to specific individuals or entities, distinguishing between common names, and avoiding false positives.
• Structured Output: Every adverse media match is enriched with structured metadata like headlines, summaries, source URLs, publication dates, and relevant keywords, making it easier for compliance analysts to review and act upon.
• Continuous Monitoring: Adverse media is not a one-time check. The engine should continuously monitor news sources for existing customers or entities, providing ongoing risk assessment.

By integrating these advanced capabilities, businesses can transform overwhelming news data into actionable intelligence, proactively identifying and mitigating reputational and financial risks.

How Didit Helps

Didit is the AI-native, developer-first identity platform that empowers businesses to build custom watchlist and adverse media screening engines with unparalleled ease and flexibility. Our modular architecture provides the essential building blocks for compliance, allowing you to orchestrate sophisticated risk workflows tailored to your exact needs. With Didit's AML Screening & Monitoring, you gain access to over 1300 global watchlists, comprehensive PEP coverage (Levels 1-4, RCAs, SIEs), and advanced adverse media screening with structured sentiment analysis across 415+ risk categories.

Didit stands out by offering Free Core KYC, enabling businesses to get started with essential identity verification at no upfront cost. Our AI-native approach ensures high accuracy and efficiency in identifying risks, while our clean APIs and no-code Business Console make integration and management straightforward for both developers and compliance officers. You can combine AML screening with other Didit products like ID Verification, 1:1 Face Match, and Proof of Address to create a holistic identity trust framework, all without any setup fees.

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