Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Screening
AML screening lets you check an individual or business against global sanctions lists, politically exposed person (PEP) databases and adverse media (negative news). Three screening types are available: PEP and sanctions screening, PEP+ search and adverse media screening.
PEP and sanctions screening API
To screen an individual or business against sanctions lists, PEP lists and other watchlists by name, make a POST request to the PEP and sanctions screening endpoint;
https://api.korapay.com/merchant/api/v1/identities/aml-screenings/pep-sanctions/nameThe request body should have the following parameters:
{
"id": "abubakar shekau",
"type": "individual",
"verification_consent": true
}| Field | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
id | string | Required- Full name of the individual or business to screen (2 to 150 characters) |
type | string | Required- Type of entity to screen. One of individual, business or all |
verification_consent | boolean | Required- Indicate subject has given consent. Must be true |
PEP and sanctions screening response
status
message
data
reference
type
summary
searched_value
searched_with
entity_type
total_entities
total_matches
match_counts
sanctions
pep
crime
debarment
financial_services
government
role
religion
military
frozen_asset
persons_of_interest
associates
watchlists
category_descriptions
subject_consent
matches
sanctions | pep | crime | debarment | financial_services | government | role | religion | military | frozen_asset | persons_of_interest | associates | watchlists
category
entity_type
names
titles
first_names
aliases
weak_aliases
countries
nationalities
citizenships
birth_dates
birth_places
genders
ethnicities
religions
education
addresses
positions
position_occupancies
posts
countries
names
statuses
start_dates
end_dates
pep_level
pep_association
basic_for_pep_association
alive_or_deceased
address_entities
countries
full_addresses
family_persons
family_relatives
associates
names
countries
relationships
sanctions
authority
program
listing_dates
start_dates
end_dates
countries
statuses
provisions
durations
reasons
summary
unsc_ids
datasets
source_urls
datasets
sources
source_urls
notes
topics
match_accuracy
date_created
status
{
"status": true,
"message": "PEP screening by name completed successfully",
"data": {
"reference": "AS-CpyZrXVt5WT8gs3O3",
"type": "pep_sanction_name",
"summary": {
"searched_value": "abubakar shekau",
"searched_with": "name",
"entity_type": "individual",
"total_entities": 81,
"total_matches": 81,
"match_counts": {
"sanctions": 20,
"pep": 20,
"crime": 3,
"debarment": 0,
"financial_services": 0,
"government": 0,
"role": 0,
"religion": 0,
"military": 0,
"frozen_asset": 0,
"persons_of_interest": 20,
"associates": 18,
"watchlists": 0
},
"category_descriptions": {
"sanctions": "Formal sanctions-designation hits (OFAC SDN, UN consolidated list, EU/UK/HMT lists, etc.). Review nested sanctions listings for the listing authority, program name, and active dates."
},
"subject_consent": true
},
"matches": {
"sanctions": [
{
"category": "sanctions",
"aliases": ["ABU MUHAMMED ABUBAKAR BI MUHAMMED", "ABU MOHAMMED ABUBAKAR BIN MOHAMMED"],
"countries": ["ng"],
"datasets": ["us_sam_exclusions"],
"titles": ["ABUBAKAR SHEKAU"],
"first_names": ["ABUBAKAR"],
"names": ["ABUBAKAR SHEKAU"],
"entity_type": "person",
"match_accuracy": 1,
"sanctions": [
{
"source_urls": ["https://sam.gov/data-services/Exclusions/Public%20V2?privacy=Public"],
"program": ["Reciprocal"],
"listing_dates": ["2012-06-29"],
"authority": ["TREAS-OFAC"],
"countries": ["us"],
"datasets": ["us_sam_exclusions"],
"summary": ["PII data has been masked from view"],
"statuses": ["Active"],
"provisions": ["Prohibition/Restriction"]
}
]
}
]
},
"date_created": "2026-10-22T09:01:59.580Z",
"status": "not_cleared"
}
}Note: This response has been shortened: it shows 1 of the 20 sanctions matches, leaves out the other match categories, and shows one entry in category_descriptions.
PEP+ search API
To get an enriched PEP profile for an individual, including the positions they hold, their PEP risk level and their social profiles, make a POST request to the PEP+ search endpoint;
https://api.korapay.com/merchant/api/v1/identities/aml-screenings/pep-searchThe request body should have the following parameters:
{
"id": "Bola Ahmed Tinubu",
"verification_consent": true
}| Field | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
id | string | Required. Full name of the individual to search (2 to 150 characters) |
verification_consent | boolean | Required. Indicate the subject has given consent. Must be true |
PEP+ search response
status
message
data
reference
type
summary
searched_value
searched_with
entity_type
total_entities
total_matches
match_counts
pep
category_descriptions
pep
subject_consent
matches
pep
category
entity_type
names
aliases
countries
states
genders
ages
positions
pep_level
images
image_confidences
socials
keywords
topics
datasets
sources
match_accuracy
date_created
status{
"status": true,
"message": "PEP+ search completed successfully",
"data": {
"reference": "AS-PMLfs10R3glTwrR38",
"type": "pep_plus_search",
"summary": {
"searched_value": "Bola Ahmed Tinubu",
"searched_with": "name",
"entity_type": "all",
"total_entities": 1,
"total_matches": 1,
"match_counts": {
"pep": 1
},
"category_descriptions": {
"pep": "Politically exposed persons — individuals in senior public, political, judicial, or state-linked roles. Review positions and PEP metadata when present."
},
"subject_consent": true
},
"matches": {
"pep": [
{
"category": "pep",
"names": ["Bola Ahmed Tinubu"],
"countries": ["ng"],
"positions": ["President", "Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces"],
"genders": ["Male (High)"],
"entity_type": "person",
"match_accuracy": 1,
"pep_level": "Very High Risk (Level 1)"
}
]
},
"date_created": "2026-10-22T09:13:36.760Z",
"status": "review_required"
}
}Note: This response has been shortened: the match shows its main fields only.
Adverse media screening API
To search news and media for articles that link an individual or business to financial crime, such as fraud, money laundering, corruption or terrorism, make a POST request to the adverse media screening endpoint;
https://api.korapay.com/merchant/api/v1/identities/aml-screenings/adverse-mediaThe request body should have the following parameters:
{
"id": "Jon Snow",
"type": "individual",
"verification_consent": true
}Request with search filters
{
"id": "Jon Snow",
"type": "individual",
"verification_consent": true,
"country": ["us", "ng"],
"start_date": "2020-03-10",
"end_date": "2023-03-10",
"tags": ["fraud", "embezzlement"]
}| Field | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | string | Required- Full name of the individual or business to screen (2 to 150 characters) |
| type | string | Required- Type of entity to screen. One of individual or business |
| verification_consent | boolean | Required- Indicate subject has given consent. Must be true |
| country | array | Optional- ISO alpha-2 country codes to limit the search to, e.g. ["us", "ng"] |
| start_date | string | Optional- Earliest publication date to search from (YYYY-MM-DD). Cannot be later than end_date |
| end_date | string | Optional- Latest publication date to search to (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| tags | array | Optional- Crime categories to filter by. Any of fraud, sanction_violations, bribery_and_corruption, money_laundering, terrorism, civil_lawsuit, cybercrime, organized_crime, drug, tax_evasion, arms_trafficking, embezzlement, securities_fraud, pharmaceutical_product_trafficking, theft, extortion, forgery, antitrust_violations, piracy, falsifying_information_on_official_documents, untagged |
Adverse media screening response
status
message
data
reference
type
summary
searched_value
searched_with
entity_type
total_entities
total_matches
match_counts
adverse_media
category_descriptions
adverse_media
subject_consent
reason
search_countries
search_tags
search_start_date
search_end_date
weighted_score
tags_analysis
label
tag
count
percentage
matches
adverse_media
category
provider_id
headline
excerpt
source_url
site
published_at
date_published
relevance_score
sentiment
persons
organizations
countries
tags
language
date_created
status{
"status": true,
"message": "Adverse media screening completed successfully",
"data": {
"reference": "AS-IIp0VcMDhFHs6zr8b",
"type": "adverse_media",
"summary": {
"searched_value": "Jon Snow",
"searched_with": "name",
"entity_type": "individual",
"total_entities": 5,
"total_matches": 5,
"match_counts": {
"adverse_media": 5
},
"reason": ": Kit Harington has expressed he doesn't want to take on a similar role again",
"search_countries": ["us", "ng"],
"search_tags": ["fraud", "embezzlement"],
"weighted_score": 66.3275,
"tags_analysis": [
{ "label": "Fraud", "count": 0, "percentage": 0, "tag": "fraud" },
{ "label": "Money laundering", "count": 0, "percentage": 0, "tag": "money_laundering" }
]
},
"matches": {
"adverse_media": [
{
"category": "adverse_media",
"persons": ["Jon", "Snow", "Jon Snow"],
"organizations": ["Snow", "UK"],
"countries": ["US"],
"headline": "Jon Snow: There's been a 'fair amount of bullshit which needed probing' during the pandemic",
"source_url": "https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/jon-snow-fair-amount-of-bullshit-needed-probing-during-pandemic-channel-4-news",
"sentiment": "Negative",
"language": "en",
"relevance_score": 71.535,
"published_at": "2020-06-03 13:15:02",
"date_published": "2020-06-03"
}
]
},
"date_created": "2026-10-22T09:11:52.698Z",
"status": "not_cleared"
}
}Note: This response has been shortened: it shows 1 of the 5 articles and 2 of the 20 tags_analysis entries, and leaves out category_descriptions, search_start_date, search_end_date and the article's provider_id.
AML screening status
Every AML screening returns a status in data.status. "cleared" means no relevant matches were found. "not_cleared" means relevant matches were found and the subject should not be onboarded without further checks. "review_required" means possible matches were found that need manual review. "unknown" means the outcome could not be determined.
AML match categories
PEP and sanctions screening results are grouped in data.matches by category: sanctions, pep, crime, debarment, financial_services, government, role, religion, military, frozen_asset, persons_of_interest, associates and watchlists. Only categories with at least one match are returned. data.summary.match_counts gives the number of matches in each category, and data.summary.category_descriptions explains each category returned. PEP+ search always returns data.matches.pep, which is an empty array when no PEP profile is found.
Adverse media risk score
Adverse media screening returns a weighted_score in the summary, which is an overall risk score across all matching articles. tags_analysis gives the number and percentage of articles in each crime category, and each article has a relevance_score and a sentiment.
AML sandbox test values
Use the test values below in the sandbox environment to simulate specific outcome states. Entity lookups match strictly on the id field and are case-insensitive.
| Screening Module | Target Type | Input id | Expected Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEP & Sanctions | Individual | abubakar shekau | not_cleared |
ahmed al khalid | |||
bola tinubu | |||
| Business | amigo supermarket limited | not_cleared | |
| PEP+ Search | Individual | Bola Ahmed Tinubu | review_required |
| Individual | Jane Doe | cleared | |
| Adverse Media | Individual | Jon Snow | not_cleared(with 5 articles) |
Updated about 13 hours ago