Screen Customers Against Sanctions Lists in Real Time

Sanctions screening is a legal requirement for financial institutions, payment processors, and any business operating internationally. This guide explains how to add real-time sanctions screening to your onboarding or transaction flow using SanctionShield AI.

What Is Sanctions Screening?

Sanctions programs maintained by OFAC, the UN, and the EU prohibit transactions with designated individuals, entities, and countries. Violations can result in severe fines and criminal liability. Automated screening checks every customer and counterparty against these lists before allowing a transaction to proceed.

Single Entity Screening

Screen an individual or company by name:

curl -X POST https://api.apivult.com/v1/compliance/sanctionshield/screen \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "name": "John Smith",
    "country": "US",
    "threshold": 0.85
  }'

Response:

{
  "match": false,
  "score": 0.12,
  "name": "John Smith",
  "checked_lists": ["OFAC_SDN", "EU_CONSOLIDATED", "UN_SECURITY_COUNCIL"],
  "timestamp": "2026-03-27T10:00:00Z"
}

A match: true response means the name exceeded your threshold against one or more lists and should be flagged for review.

Batch Screening

For onboarding pipelines, screen multiple entities in a single request:

import requests
 
payload = {
    "entities": [
        {"name": "Acme Corp", "country": "DE"},
        {"name": "Jane Doe", "country": "FR"},
    ],
    "threshold": 0.80
}
 
response = requests.post(
    "https://api.apivult.com/v1/compliance/sanctionshield/batch",
    headers={
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    },
    json=payload,
)
results = response.json()
 
for entity in results["results"]:
    if entity["match"]:
        print(f"FLAGGED: {entity['name']} (score: {entity['score']})")

Configuring the Match Threshold

The threshold parameter (0.0–1.0) controls how aggressively the fuzzy matching engine flags potential matches:

Set threshold based on your risk appetite. Most compliance teams start at 0.85 and adjust based on false positive rates.

Audit Logging

Every API response includes a timestamp field. Store the full response object alongside each screening decision to maintain a compliance-ready audit trail.

See the full SanctionShield AI reference for response schemas, list coverage details, and webhook configuration.