Run a PEPs and sanctions screening (API)
Updated 6 months ago
This developer guide takes you through the steps to run a PEPs and sanctions screening check in the PassFort API 4.0 to get a list of an individual's potential matches to sanctioned persons, politically exposed persons (PEPs), and (if you have access to adverse media results through your data provider) instances of adverse media.
INDIVIDUAL_ASSESS_POLITICAL_AND_SANCTIONS_EXPOSURE) and Assess PEPs, sanctions, and adverse media (INDIVIDUAL_ASSESS_MEDIA_AND_POLITICAL_AND_SANCTIONS_EXPOSURE).1. Get the profile's ID and confirm it has the required keys and values
First, choose a profile for the check and get the profile ID (more information below).
Once you have the profile ID, you can make sure the profile has the required fields for the PEPs and sanctions screening check to run successfully (documented below).
Get the profile's ID
PEPs and sanctions screening checks are always run on profiles with the INDIVIDUAL entity type.
Choose an individual profile to run the check on, and take note of the profile's ID number (e.g. a2c4393a-e219-67a4-5ab4-2186952e9038). You'll need it to confirm it has the required fields and also to run the check later.
/onboarding/ in the URL.Confirm the profile has the required fields for the check
To see all data on the profile, make a request to the following endpoint.
Required endpoint:
GET https://api.passfort.com/4.0/profiles/{profile_id}In this example, data is returned for an individual profile named "Alex Wheeler".
Sample response:
{
"id": "a2c4393a-e219-67a4-5ab4-2186952e9038",
"creation_date": "2021-06-08 11:13:43",
"role": "INDIVIDUAL_CUSTOMER",
"collected_data": {
"entity_type": "INDIVIDUAL",
"personal_details": {
"name": {
"family_name": "Wheeler",
"given_names": [
"Alex"
]
}
}
},
"events": [],
"checks": []
}Use the response to:
Confirm the profile has data for these required keys, which are in the collected_data object:
personal_details.given_names: The individual's first name.personal_details.family_name: The individual's last name.
If the required fields do not exist on the profile or do not contain valid data, the check will return an error when you try to run it.
To learn how to add/update the fields in the profile's collected_data, see Update PassFort's profile data.
To learn which optional profile fields can be used for this check, see the article for your data provider: ComplyAdvantage, Dow Jones Risk and Compliance, Refinitiv World-Check One, and RDC.
tasks.id). Use the corresponding task alias (tasks.variant.alias) to confirm you're looking at the right task. If there is more than one task with the same alias (which happens when a task has more than one version), use the task with "is_expired": "false".2. Run the check
Sending the request
To run the check, make a request to the endpoint below.
Request endpoint:
POST https://api.passfort.com/4.0/profiles/{profile_id}/checksmode as a query parameter to run the check synchronously.Body parameters:
When you make the POST request, include the following parameters in the body.
Key | Value | Description |
Required String |
| The type of check that's being run. |
Required Object | For a sample value, see the sample request body below. | Object to indicate which variant of the check will run. |
Required String This key is optional if | Sample value:
| The check variant alias. |
Optional String This key is required if | Sample value:
| The unique identifier for the check variant. |
In the example below, we'll run the check.
Sample request body:
{
"check_type": "PEPS_AND_SANCTIONS_SCREEN",
"variant": {
"alias": "screening_individuals"
}
}Sample response:
{
"check_type": "PEPS_AND_SANCTIONS_SCREEN",
"id": "ea565b55-47d9-1858-4588-3a22a3838707",
"instructed_on": "2021-06-08 11:13:43",
"performed_on": "2021-06-08 11:13:43",
"providers": [],
"state": "PENDING",
"task_ids": [],
"variant": {
"alias": "screening_individuals",
"id": "ea70ade9-3de3-1785-203b-68044cd3ecbb",
"name": "PEPs, sanctions, and adverse media screening"
},
"disable_initial_screen": false,
"disable_monitoring": false
}Take note of the check id in the response because you'll need it for the next steps to get the check result.
task_ids in the request to indicate which task(s) the check should run on. If you don't provide a task_ids, the check will run on whichever applicable task(s) the profile has.state is expected to be PENDING in the response.Get the check result
Listen to the Check completed webhook to get a notification when the check is finished running and to learn what the result is.
Payloads from this webhook have several important keys:
secret: Authenticate the request by ensuring this secret matches your secret.id: The check ID. Use it to confirm the payload is for your check by matching it to the check ID you captured when you ran the check.data.check.check_type: The type of check that was run. When the PEPs and sanctions screening was run, the value will bePEPS_AND_SANCTIONS_SCREEN.data.check.result: The result of the check. Possible results for the PEPs and sanctions screening arePass,PEP,Sanction,Media,Refer, orError. To learn what causes these check results, see the description for the PEPs and sanctions screening result.
In this example, the PEPs and sanctions screening discovered at least one PEP result for the individual.
Sample payload:
{
"id": "33bae6b8-5689-b96b-143c-06e93ab8527e",
"event": "CHECK_COMPLETED",
"secret": "yourSecret",
"timestamp": 1620300390,
"data": {
"check": {
"check_type": "PEPS_AND_SANCTIONS_SCREEN",
"id": "ea565b55-47d9-1858-4588-3a22a3838707",
"result": "PEP",
"variant": {
"alias": "screening_individuals",
"id": "ea70ade9-3de3-1785-203b-68044cd3ecbb",
"name": "PEPs, sanctions, and adverse media screening"
}
},
"customer_ref": null,
"profile_id": "a2c4393a-e219-67a4-5ab4-2186952e9038"
}
}See Get more information about the check result to learn which data was sent to the data provider and which data provider was used.
Get more information about the check result
If you want to get more information about the check result, make a call to the endpoint below.
In the request body, include the profile ID and the check ID.
Request endpoint:
GET https://api.passfort.com/4.0/profiles/{profile_id}/checks/{check_id}Sample response:
{
"check_type": "PEPS_AND_SANCTIONS_SCREEN",
"completed_on": "2021-06-08 11:18:01",
"errors": [ ],
"id": "ea565b55-47d9-1858-4588-3a22a3838707",
"instructed_on": "2021-06-08 11:13:43",
"performed_on": "2021-06-08 11:13:43",
"providers": [
{
"instructed_on": "2021-06-08 11:13:43",
"is_monitored": false,
"provider_name": "ComplyAdvantage",
"variant_name": "complyadvantage"
}
],
"started_on": "2021-06-08 11:13:43",
"state": "COMPLETE",
"task_ids": [ ],
"variant": {
"alias": "screening_individuals",
"id": "ea70ade9-3de3-1785-203b-68044cd3ecbb",
"name": "Screening"
},
"result": "PEP",
"decision": "WARN",
"input_data": {
"entity_type": "INDIVIDUAL",
"personal_details": {
"name": {
"family_name": "Alex",
"given_names": [
"Wheeler"
]
}
}
},
"output_data": {
"entity_type": "INDIVIDUAL"
},
"disable_initial_screen": false,
"disable_monitoring": false
}Use the response to see:
input_data: Shows which information about the individual was sent to the data provider.providers: Shows which data provider was used to run the check.
3. See and update matches
See PEPs, sanctions, and adverse media matches
If you want to learn which PEPs, sanctions, and (if your data provider shows them) which adverse media matches an individual has, make a call to the endpoint below. In the API, matches are called events.
POST https://api.passfort.com/4.0/profiles/{profile_id}/eventsIn this example, the individual has one PEPs match and one adverse media match.
Sample response:
[
{
"creation_date": "2021-06-08 11:18:01",
"data": {
"event_type": "PEP_FLAG",
"aliases": [
"Alex Wheeler",
"Alexa Wheeler",
"Darcy Wheeler"
],
"associates": [
{
"name": "Aaron Wheeler"
},
{
"name": "Hunter Sagal"
}
],
"deceased": true,
"deceased_dates": [ … ],
"details": [ … ],
"match_dates": [ … ],
"match_id": "F0WGP81952TJM5T",
"match_name": "Alexandra Darcy Wheeler",
"pep": {
"match": true,
"tier": 1
},
"provider_name": "Comply Advantage",
"sources": [
{
"name": "ComplyAdvantage PEP Data",
"url": "http://www.complyadvantage.com/"
},
{ … }
]
},
"id": "c78b29ee-a324-4e74-8917-1a703f00eba4",
"resolution": "UNRESOLVED"
},
{
"creation_date": "2021-06-08 11:18:01",
"data": {
"event_type": "ADVERSE_MEDIA_FLAG",
"aliases": [
"Alex Wheeler",
"Alexa Wheeler",
"Darcy Wheeler"
],
"associates": [
{
"name": "Aaron Wheeler"
},
{
"name": "Hunter Sagal"
}
],
"deceased": true,
"deceased_dates": [ … ],
"details": [ … ],
"match_dates": [ … ],
"match_id": "F0WGP81952TJM5T",
"match_name": "Alexander Darcy Wheeler",
"media": [
{
"date": "2018-10-27",
"snippet": "These measures were met by large protests. In 1994 he fulfilled his campaign promise and gave amnesty to Wheeler, who was in prison following her failed 1992 military rebellion. Evans retired from politics in his last years due to poor health caused by Parkinson's disease, and died on 24 December aged 93.",
"title": "Ex President Sandi Evans Dies | Example.com",
"url": "http://example.com/news/5036?utm_source=NET%20NEWS%20GLOBAL&quicktabs_2=0"
},
{ … },
{ … }
],
"provider_name": "Comply Advantage",
"sources": [
{
"name": "ComplyAdvantage PEP Data",
"url": "http://www.complyadvantage.com/"
},
{ … }
]
},
"id": "033abcd3-33be-4166-9749-aee93b4c85e8",
"resolution": "UNRESOLVED"
}
]
Each object in the response corresponds to a PEPs, sanctions, or adverse media event.
These are all the events for the profile, not just the latest results from your check. Use the creation_date to see which events were created recently and the event_type to find the events that are relevant to you.
The event_type could be any of the following:
PEP_FLAG: The match is a politically exposed person (PEP).SANCTION_FLAG: The match is a sanctioned person.ADVERSE_MEDIA_FLAG: There is an instance of adverse media about the individual.REFER_FLAG: The match does not fall into any of the categories above. For example, the match has a criminal record.
The data provider returns potential matches, and it's up to you to decide if these are true matches to the profile or if they should be ignored. The event's resolution shows whether the event is:
UNRESOLVED: This is a potential match for the individual.MATCH: The match is confirmed for the individual.MISMATCH: The match does not correspond to the individual. This can happen when a user ignores the match via the Portal, when the match is updated as a mismatch via the API, or when PassFort marks the match as a false positive.
IGNORE and CREATED_TASK are not used for the PEPs and sanctions screening.The information in the data object shows all the match information returned by the data provider. For example, it could show the aliases used by the match (aliases), the associates of the match (associates), or the sources used to get the information about the match (sources). This information should help you make your decision about whether the match is a true match to the individual or whether it should be ignored.
For a list of all the possible fields that can be returned in the data object, see the response for Get a list of profile events in the Full PassFort API reference or the PassFort Connect API reference.
Update PEPs, sanctions, and adverse media matches
Once you've used the information in the data object to determine whether the match is a true match to the individual or whether it should be ignored, you can update the event with the new resolution.
To update the event, send the new resolution to the endpoint below. The resolution can be one of the following:
MATCH: The match is confirmed as a true match to the individual.MISMATCH: The match does not correspond to the individual.
resolution options, see the steps above.Request endpoint:
POST https://api.passfort.com/4.0/profiles/{profile_id}/events/{event_id}In this example we'll update the match for Alexandra Darcy Wheeler to be a true match to the individual.
Sample request body:
{
"resolution": "MATCH"
}Sample response:
{
"creation_date": "2021-06-08 11:18:01",
"data": {
"event_type": "PEP_FLAG",
"aliases": [ … ],
"associates": [ … ],
"deceased": true,
"deceased_dates": [ … ],
"details": [ … ],
"match_dates": [ … ],
"match_id": "F0WGP81952TJM5T",
"match_name": "Alexandra Darcy Wheeler",
"pep": { … },
"provider_name": "Comply Advantage",
"sources": [ … ]
},
"id": "c78b29ee-a324-4e74-8917-1a703f00eba4",
"resolution": "MATCH"
}Ongoing monitoring
Some data providers offer ongoing monitoring for the PEPs and sanctions screening. This means that after the check has been run the first time, the profile is monitored for any new matches that could be imported to the check results.
To update the profile with any new matches that your data provider discovers, first ensure you're listening to the Events created webhook.
Your data provider may also update a match. For example, if the match's job changes, the data provider may update their status. To handle any updated matches that your data provider discovers, ensure you're listening to the Events updated webhook.
You can choose which webhooks to listen to by logging into the Portal following these steps.
After this:
- If the data provider discovers new matches for the profile, the Events created webhook will be fired. If the data provider discovers updated matches for the profile, the Events updated webhook will be fired. Either webhook will have one of these values for the
event_type:PEP_FLAG,SANCTION_FLAG,ADVERSE_MEDIA_FLAG, orREFER_FLAG. You can see sample payloads in the API Resources. - When you receive the payload, take note of the
profile_idto learn which profile is impacted andevents.idto get the ID of the new event. - Make a call to the following endpoint to get the details of the event:
POST https://api.passfort.com/4.0/profiles/{profile_id}/events/{event_id} - Follow the steps above to update the match resolution to indicate whether it's a true match or a mismatch.
resolution of a match. Make sure you only act on the payload when it shows that the data returned does not match an event you've just updated. event_type in the payload because the Events created and Events updated webhooks fire for any check type with ongoing monitoring (including checks other than the PEPs and sanctions screening). 