Compliance Consultancy
Risk management and Consultancy firm
Contact us
info@pideeco.be
Adverse Media
Compliance Consultancy Central Compliance Adverse Media
Have you ever heard the terms Adverse Media Screening or Negative News scraping and wonder what they mean? For compliance professionals, these terms refer to an essential step of the Customer Identification and Mandatory Verification process of their financial institution.

The controls can be achieved by different means. In the past years, automatic screenings through IT tools have eased the job of compliance professionals and have made the screening process more accurate and faster. However, a professional's overall evaluation is always necessary.
The sources used for Adverse Media Screening can be numerous and depend on the industry objective. The sources vary from primary search engines to sanction lists, governmental lists, other official records, social media and any additional information that can provide accurate information to serve the investigation's objective.

What is the definition of adverse (media) screening ?

Adverse media screening is the process according to which a customer (physical person or moral person) is compared ("screened against") with negative information and data sources. The data sources contain information about the involvement of the person in money laundering, fraud, finance of terrorism and other economic scandals or sanctions.
Interested in implementing a screening system for your business profiling needs? Have a look at the Screening page for more information on Screening meaning and methods.
The controls can be achieved by different means. In the past years, automatic screenings through IT tools have eased the job of compliance professionals and have made the screening process more accurate and faster. However, a professional's overall evaluation is always necessary.
The sources used for Adverse Media Screening can be numerous and depend on the industry objective. The sources vary from primary search engines to sanction lists, governmental lists, other official records, social media and any additional information that can provide accurate information to serve the investigation's objective.
How to efficiently process the screening results ?
The results of the screening can be divided in three categories:- No matching results: the screening is completed and the individual under investigation has not appeared in any source of result. If the setup of sources is sound, you can assume the result is accurate.
- True positive hits: Identified matches. Confirmed by analyst evaluation.
- False positive hits: Identified matches. Discounted by analyst evaluation. The hit may share similar information that gave rise to the "false-identification". Homonyms, birthdays, nationalities, backgrounds and insufficient filters might not help the screening tool which cannot build a clear distinction.
The Negative Media Screening challenges
The screening process can be challenging. The news is constantly changing, and it is very often that analysts have to spend a lot of time to evaluate the results. Even if it looks like an easy exercise, in reality, it can become time-consuming, and an experienced analyst may be required. Another issue is that there is news in many different languages, and the lack of professionals, who speak these languages may result in insufficient findings.Another factor we should take into account is the non-updated sources and their inadequate context. It is not unusual that big databases and governmental lists are not updated very often, and that wrong or missing information is provided.

Was this service page helpful ?
Central Compliance is the organization of all the compliance monitoring and controlling the professional activities of a given business or company thr...
Return to central compliance
Financing terrorism: The billion-dollar blood antiquities art dealing
The destruction of the ancient city of Palmyra and the beheading of its Antiquities Chief, Khaled al-Asaad, in 2015 by the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) are still fresh in the minds of many. Beginning in 2014, the terrorist group has wrecked havoc a...
Read more Author What else ?