TLDR: The article explains screening terms used in reports, including definitions for Adverse Media, Sanctions, Warnings, Fitness Probity, and PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons). PEPs are classified by risk levels from high to low, based on roles like heads of state, regional officials, and local judges, aligned with FATF guidelines.
Screening Terms
This table outlines the different types of hits and some other terms that you might see on our reports.
| Adverse media | Adverse Media is defined by Comply Advantage as: "Any kind of unfavourable information found across a wide variety of news sources – both ‘traditional’ news outlets and those from unstructured sources.” |
| Sanctions | A sanction hit indicates that the individual referred to in the match has been placed on a sanctions list. What is a sanctions list? For information on how Thirdfort stays up-to-date with ongoing changes to UK Sanctions, please see our blog post here. |
| S/O | If it says S/O on a PEP result from Comply Advantage, this means 'Son of'. |
| Warning | Lists of individuals or legal entities who have been involved with law-breaking activities or are under investigation of regulatory breaches within their industry. These lists are issued by relevant law-enforcement and regulatory bodies internationally - the specific enforcement body that has published the hit will be listed within our results. |
| Fitness Probity | This category encompasses individuals and legal entities which have been disqualified or otherwise restricted from holding certain positions or participating in certain activities such as publicly-funded contracts due to regulatory or code of conduct breaches. |
| PEP | A politically exposed person (“PEP”) is an individual who is or has been entrusted with a prominent function by a local, regional, national or international governmental body. The database we use covers high-ranking government officials in every active jurisdiction. PEP hits are sorted into the classifications outlined below, to help measure risk. |
PEP Types
Our PEP definitions and categorisations are aligned with the guidelines provided by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), broken down by risk level:
High Risk – PEP Class 1
- Ruling Royal Families
- Heads of state and government
- Members of government (national and federal level)
- Members of Parliaments (national and federal level)
- Senior officials of other state agencies and bodies and high-ranking civil servants
- Heads of senior officials in the military, judiciary, law enforcement and board of central banks
- Top-ranking officials of political parties
Medium-High Risk – PEP Class 2
- Member of regional governments, parliaments and judiciary
- Senior officials and functionaries of international and supranational organizations
- Senior members of religious groups
- Ambassadors, consuls, high commissioners
Medium Risk – PEP Class 3
- Senior management and board of directors of state-owned businesses and organisations – e.g. Chairman of a Bank
- Heads of agencies, state-owned enterprises, and other institutions under regional governments
Low Risk – PEP Class 4
- Mayors and members of local county, city and district assemblies
- Senior officials and functionaries of international or supranational organisations
- Judges of local courts
You can find an in-depth breakdown of what constitutes a PEP on our supplier's knowledge hub here: Who Are Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) And Why Do They Matter?
Retracted Matches
When ongoing monitoring is switched on for screening on a check you may receive a ‘retracted’ update result. This is due to matches being removed by our screening supplier if there are updates to their underlying data. This includes corrections, deduplication, or changes in the matched individual’s attributes that cause it to no longer match the screening criteria.
This article is based on accessing Thirdfort directly via our portal. If you access Thirdfort via a partner or reseller, functionality may differ.