Financial criminals are often flagged in the news long before they appear on sanctions or politically exposed persons (PEP) lists. Regulators worldwide—including FATF, FinCEN, OFAC, the EU Commission, BaFin, FCA, MAS, HKMA and FINMA—are placing greater emphasis on adverse media screening, making it a core part of both customer onboarding and ongoing due diligence.
Negative news monitoring gives financial institutions an early warning of potentially high-risk clients and counterparties. By embedding these checks into the KYC and AML process, firms can align with a risk-based approach to compliance while improving detection of threats before they escalate, claims IMTF.
Despite its importance, adverse media screening is far from simple. Compliance teams face multiple hurdles, including the sheer volume of data, difficulties in verifying accuracy, language and translation barriers, and the risk of false positives. These challenges highlight the need for automated, reliable tools to strengthen the process.
Regulators across the globe have been explicit in their requirements. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called for adverse media to be part of customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence, treating public sources as critical for detecting links to financial crime. In Europe, the 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD) and the forthcoming AML Regulation push firms to continuously monitor clients and apply risk-based media insights. These requirements also tie into wider ESG and compliance frameworks, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).
In the DACH region, Germany’s regulator BaFin has recommended that media reports are reviewed as part of onboarding risk assessments, while Switzerland’s FINMA expects adverse media to be embedded into AML frameworks, particularly for high-risk accounts. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) encourages financial institutions to integrate adverse media into due diligence and ongoing monitoring. The UK’s Economic Crime Plan further highlights its role in uncovering misconduct early.
The United States has taken a similar stance. Under the Bank Secrecy Act and the USA PATRIOT Act, FinCEN requires institutions to consider adverse media as part of AML programmes, while OFAC uses such insights to help identify sanctions evasion and suspicious activity beyond official lists. In Asia-Pacific, Singapore’s MAS and Hong Kong’s HKMA both mandate a risk-based approach, explicitly requiring adverse media checks during onboarding and for politically exposed or high-risk clients.
The risks of failing to act are clear. Danske Bank’s Estonian branch was implicated in laundering over $230bn after weak screening allowed Russian clients into the US system. Rabobank, meanwhile, faced a $360m penalty for failures in customer due diligence. These cases underline why negative news monitoring is critical for compliance, helping to meet regulatory demands, spot risks early and prevent financial crime.
However, the process is resource-intensive. Analysts must compare client KYC data against countless public sources, social media posts, blogs and news outlets. This brings challenges of information overload, misinformation such as deepfakes, duplicate or irrelevant content, and the need for continuous monitoring in a constantly shifting media environment.
This is where technology such as Siron®One can transform the process. Using AI-powered natural language processing, it scans a wide range of sources, from blogs to mainstream media, and generates contextualised reports that analysts can easily review. Its entity resolution feature assigns unique identifiers to clients, reducing confusion caused by common names or aliases. The system also tackles false positives, with claims of up to ten times greater accuracy than conventional tools.
Siron®One provides de-duplication to avoid repetitive reviews, translation capabilities to handle multilingual sources, and integration with NewsGuard to prioritise reliable outlets. The platform’s automation features also allow one-click screening within existing workflows, cutting down manual effort and accelerating decision-making.
With regulators tightening expectations, adverse media screening is no longer optional. The financial sector needs robust solutions that streamline the process without sacrificing accuracy. Siron®One aims to meet this need by enabling institutions to comply with evolving global standards, reduce workloads and act on risks quickly and effectively.
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