Glossary of Terms

• Adverse Media

  A match category where the client has received unfavorable media coverage

• All categories

  A match category that includes all categories

• Arms trafficking

  According to the United Nations, the term refers to “the import, export, acquisition, sale, delivery, movement or transfer of firearms, their parts and components and ammunition.”

• Associated Entity

  A match category where an entity has a family, personal, or business association with the primary entity.

• Bank Secrecy Act

  Created in 1970, this Act prevents criminals from using banks as a means to launder their funds. The BSA accomplishes this task by requiring financial institutions to provide any documentation that seems suspicious.

• Beneficial owners

  A beneficial owner is an entity that enjoys the benefits of ownership of a property, even though its title is in the name of another entity.

• Branch

  The name used to identify a branch location of an institution, government, or other entity

• Category

  A high-level grouping into which clients can be placed, for example: PEP, Sanction List, Associated Entity, Enforcement, Investigation, Government Corp, Adverse Media, Influential Person, Company of Interest, and Excluded Party

• Client

  The name that a user is trying to match to data in the World Compliance database, also called a customer.

• Client Name

  The name used by a client, or that is used to identify a client.

• Collateral crimes

  Any crime that evolves from the commission of a previous criminal act is deemed a collateral crime. False statements or obstruction to justice can be considered a collateral crime.

• Company of Interest

  An important publicly known company, which often includes an Influential Person or Persons in its management

• Corruption

  An encouragement to do wrong by unlawful means.

• Data Source

  The originating entity for match information

• Delta

  A status type where an inserted matching database record for a client exists and is matched against newly added records

• Designation

  A position or identifier assigned to a client by the user

• Drug trafficking

  The term drug trafficking refers to the complex system which encompasses the cultivation, manufacturing, transportation and distribution of illegal substances.

• Enforcement

  A match category where the client is a member of one of the over 500 international, national, state and local enforcement agencies from around the world monitored by World Compliance. The client might also be a person of interest by an enforcement organization.

• EPLS

  See Excluded Parties List

• Excluded Parties List

  (EPLS) A statement issued by the U.S. government to keep agencies aware of exclusions taken throughout the Federal Government. The EPLS was created to not allow a party to participate in a program if the party was debarred, suspended, or excluded from participation in an affected program.

• Excluded Party

  A match category with either of these characteristics: (1) Generally, a client is excluded from receiving financial or nonfinancial assistance and benefits, such as contracts and subcontracts, from another entity. (2) Specifically, the client is on the Excluded Parties List (EPLS) of the United States Government. The EPLS is used to keep agencies administrative and statutory exclusions taken throughout the Federal Government. The federal list was created in order to not allow the party to participate in any affected program if an Executive department or agency has debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded that party from participation in an affected program.

• False positive

  A false positive is an incorrect positive result. For example, you search on your client, John Smith, and get hundreds of John Smith’s that are not your client.

• FATF

  The Financial Action Task Force is a government body that creates and promotes policies to combat money laundering.

• FCPA

  The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is a federal law enacted in 1977 to prohibit companies from paying bribes to foreign government officials and political figures for the purpose of obtaining business.

• FinCEN

  Created by the US Department of Treasury, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s goal is to punish criminals who participate in money laundering.

• Fraud

  Fraud is an intentional perversion or misrepresentation of the truth.

• Fuzzy Name Matching

  The algorithm used for the name matching process

• Government Corp

  A match category where the client is either a member of a government owned corporation or is noted as a person of interest by a government owned corporation.

• High Quality Match

  A match in whom there is a high probability that the client is the same person identified in the database records. A high probability match might be 80%, but this value is configurable.

• Human trafficking

  The United Nations definition of human trafficking is “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation".

• Influential Person

  A match category describing an important publicly known figure, especially one who holds power

• Insert

  A status type where a matching database record about a client has been updated recently

• Institution ID

  A unique identifier used by the entity using the World Compliance database

• Insufficient Info

  A match type where the matching database data was examined by a user, and the data was very close to a No Match status; however, there is still not enough supporting information. The user intentionally selects an Insufficient Info match type.

• Investigation

  A match category where the client is either a member of an investigation organization, such as the FBI, or is reported as being investigated for possible criminal or ethical violations by an enforcement or regulatory agency.

• Low Quality Match

  A match in whom there is a low probability that the client is the same person identified in the database records. The default value for a low probability match is 79% or less, but this value is configurable.

• Match

  The result of making an informed decision about the identity of a client by comparing known attributes about the client with matching records available in the World Compliance database.

• Match Type

  The degree to which a query about a client corresponds to data about the possible matching clients in the World Compliance database. Matches can be None, Positive Match, No Match, Pending, Escalate, or Insufficient Info.

• Money Laundering

  A process through which the origins of illegal funds is concealed making them look as if they resulted from legitimate means.

• National ID

  An identification number issued by the country in which the client is a citizen, for example, a Social Security number is a national ID in the U.S.

• Nickname

  A name that is substituted for a client’s formal name

• No Match

  A match type where the matching database data was examined by a user, however, the examination is not yet complete. The user intentionally selects No Match as a match type.

• No.

  A numeric identifier assigned to the client

• None

  (1) A match type where the database did not find any data that corresponds to the client being queried. (2) A status type where a matching record for a client has not yet been categorized.

• OFAC

  According to the Department of Justice, the Office of Foreign Asset Control “administers and enforces economic sanctions programs primarily against countries and groups of individuals, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers.”

• Open Source Intelligence

  Finding and gathering information that is available to the public through sources such as the internet, court records, and newspapers, and then analyzing and producing valuable data.

• Original Name

  The spelling of the client’s name in the client’s native alphabetic script

• Other ID

  Additional document that can be used to verify the identity of a client

• Pending

  A match type where the matching database data was examined by a user; however, more verification is needed before a determination can be made. The user intentionally selects Pending as a match type.

• PEP

  See Politically Exposed Person

• Place of Birth

  The location where a client was born

• Politically Exposed Person (PEP)

  A match category that generally includes a current or former senior foreign political figure, their immediate family, and their close associates. While there is no uniform definition for PEP, there is an international consensus to identify politically exposed persons, their family members, business partners, as well as government owned entities among an organization’s clientele.

• Positive Match

  A match type where the database found significant data that corresponds to the client being queried

• Probability

  An algorithmic calculation of the probability of the client name being a match to the WorldCompliance database records

• Processed match

  A match in which a human has examined the client name against database records and has made some sort of determination

• Risk based approach

  An approach based on the evaluation of an organization’s customer base and the level of risk (low, medium, or high) that they pose to an organization.

• Sanction List

  A match category similar to a watch list as it contains names of persons or entities that are important to be aware of. The client is included on one or more official sanction lists maintained by governments world-wide.

• Sleeper

  A status type where a matching database record for a client is updated

• Status

  Reflects the status of a database matching record. A status can be, for example, None, Insert, Update, Delta, or Sleeper.

• Terrorism

  According to the UN, terrorism is the intention “to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.”

• Terrorist Funding

  The financing of terrorism occurs when funds are made available with the intention of being use to carry out acts of terrorism.

• Unprocessed match

  A match in which a human has not yet examined the client name against database records

• Update

  A status type where a matching database record for a client has been inserted and updated

• USA Patriot Act

  Created shortly after September 11th, 2001, the Act gave US law enforcement increased power to investigate, prosecute, and prevent acts of terror.