Global financial crime continues to escalate.

India alone has suffered online financial losses amounting to approximately ₹8,500 crore. Alarmingly, more than half of these losses are tied to cybercrime. This surge in financial crimes has increased the compliance burden for financial institutions (FIs). What FIs need is a robust security checkpoint. A frontier that keeps them compliant and maintains integrity, trust, and reputation.  This is where a global watchlist screening solution emerges as a vital component.

In India, the total volume of penalties levied by RBI was INR 54.78 crore in FY 25 for non-compliance.
In July 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed more than S$28 million  on nine financial institutions (FIs) for breaches of its AML/CFT requirements.
In the European Union, fines for anti-money laundry (AML) breaches vary by country but can reach €5 million or up to 10% of annual turnover.
In UAE, Corporate fines can reach AED 50 million for money laundering offenses, and penalties for general AML breaches range from AED 10,000 to AED 1,000,000

What is watchlist screening

AML compliance regulations mandate that financial institutions have to rigorously check new and existing customers to stop money laundering. 

Watchlist screening functions as the primary line of defense, ensuring that businesses do not inadvertently onboard customers or entities that may pose harm.

By cross-referencing data during onboarding or on an ad hoc basis, it screens customers and identifies risky individuals to successfully meet legal regulations. This meticulous vetting process covers diverse watchlists, including AML, politically exposed persons (PEPs), sanctioned individuals, and entities associated with criminal activities.

The cost of non-AML compliance

For FIs, watchlist screening is a regulatory obligation.  If you fail to do so, you not only become instrumental in money laundering but also damage your reputation and public image. Not being AML-compliant comes with hefty compliance fines too.

‍The cost of overall financial crime compliance is nearly $61 billion in the US and Canada, while in the APAC region, it’s $45 billion.With the impending Anti-Money-Laundering Authority (AMLA), the cost of compliance in the EU can reach as high as £1 million.

Fuzzy-Logic Name Matching During Screening

Traditional, manual screening systems often fail due to:

• Human errors and high risk of false positives
• Minor spelling or transliteration differences
• Typos, aliases, or phonetic variations
• Relying solely on syntax or sound—but not both

Our automated screening tool takes a more nuanced approach to screening by using fuzzy logic. Moreover, it also searches for phonetic similarities, the results are even more precise. This guarantees that you don’t accidentally vet out a customer just because their name is similar to that of a sanctioned person or criminal.

1. Syntax and phonetic matching

Powered by a robust algorithm and a powerful, multidimensional watchlist database, it offers:

• Comprehensive Name Matching
  Uses fuzzy logic to account for alternate spellings (e.g., “Muhammad” vs “Mohammed”), aliases, transliteration (Arabic–English, Tamil to English, or any other), and typos.
• Dual Matching Techniques
  Unlike many systems that use either syntax-based or phonetic matching, ours applies both simultaneously—minimizing false positives and false negatives.

High Precision, Minimal NoiseThanks to advanced AI/ML tuning and our deep watchlist database (2,100+ global/regional sources), we deliver market-leading accuracy with very low false-positive rates.

2. Real-time & ongoing screening

Accurately, identifying high-risk entities is one side of the AML compliance coin. The other is speed.  Financial institutions need to be proactive, not reactive. For that, you want real-time and ongoing monitoring of customers. An always-on watchlist screening solution regularly updates watchlists so you have the latest information at your disposal to mitigate emerging risks swiftly and be alerted to any change in the risk status of existing customers. Our watchlist solution rescans customers automatically, sending alerts only when an actual risk emerges—maintaining both compliance and customer experience.

‍Your watchlist screening solution shouldn’t raise a red flag just for the sake of it. A good screening solution would only file a SAR when it contains adequate information to warrant the filing of the notice.

Our advanced technology enables thorough customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence without causing unnecessary delays. Customizable risk thresholds and setting screening parameters based on risk appetite avoid the creation of excessive suspicious activity reports (SARs).

3. Internal & third-party screening layers

Beyond global watchlists, your risk framework becomes far more resilient when you also:

• Check against your organization’s own data, screening existing CRM or rejected-customer lists for internal fraud signals.
• Cross-verify with third-party data sources, such as peer bank watchlists or consortium data, for broader visibility into emerging risks.

Our screening tool supports both these layers, driving deeper insights while keeping compliance airtight.

The Takeaway

In an age of heightened regulatory oversight and cross-border risk, investing in an AI-powered watchlist screening solution isn't just smart. It’s essential.

Posidex’s global watchlist name screening solution uses best-in-class technology relied on by Tier 1 corporations for screening against 2100+ lists. It seamlessly integrates with your existing systems, enabling real-time screening and instant response without disrupting daily operations or compromising efficiency.

Safeguard your institution, screen smarter, not just harder.