An adverse media check is the process of screening individuals or organisations against credible news sources, regulatory publications and other open-source intelligence sources to identify negative information linked to financial crime, fraud, corruption, sanctions evasion or other high-risk activities. It helps reveal warning signs that may not appear in formal watchlists and supports more accurate customer due diligence.
Adverse media plays a key role in customer due diligence (CDD), enhanced due diligence (EDD) and ongoing monitoring, especially where risks emerge before formal law-enforcement action or regulatory reporting.
Why Adverse Media Checks Matter In AML And Compliance
Adverse media helps institutions identify reputational, legal and financial crime risks early, aligning with expectations set out in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations. When combined with sanctions screening, know-your-customer (KYC) controls and transaction monitoring, it provides a more complete view of customer behaviour and exposure.
Effective adverse media checks allow firms to, supporting expectations outlined by regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority:
Detect early indicators of financial crime.
Strengthen onboarding and periodic reviews.
Support escalation and enhanced due diligence.
Improve ongoing monitoring by identifying new red flags.
How Adverse Media Screening Works
Adverse media checks typically rely on:
Automated tools that analyse large volumes of global news data.
Categorised risk domains such as bribery, corruption, fraud, money laundering and organised crime.
Scoring and relevance models that reduce noise and false positives.
Human review to confirm severity, credibility and context.
These methods help ensure risk signals are meaningful and actionable.
Challenges In Adverse Media Screening
Screening media sources is complex due to challenges described in global supervisory guidance, including:
Huge volumes of international news coverage.
Variations in names, languages and transliteration.
Duplicate, unreliable or low-quality sources.
High levels of false positives without strong scoring logic.
This makes it essential for firms to use high-quality screening solutions that improve accuracy and provide clear explanations for alerts.
How Adverse Media Checks Connect To Facctum Solutions
Facctum supports adverse media workflows across its screening and list-management capabilities:
FacctList, available through the watchlist management solution, helps maintain accurate, high-quality lists and provides enriched context for screening.
FacctView, delivered through the customer screening solution, provides real-time screening performance across sanctions, PEP and adverse media domains.
Facctum’s alert adjudication capabilities support investigation and decisioning where adverse media results require escalation.
