Watchlist

Watchlist monitoring is a critical piece in many onboarding processes. Using Middesk, you can screen against many watchlists, including the Consolidated Screening List, all of which are listed below.

CodeTitleAgencyOrganization
CAPCapta ListOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of Treasury
DPLDenied Persons ListBureau of Industry and SecurityU.S. Department of Commerce
DTCAECA/ITAR DebarredDirectorate of Defense Trade ControlsU.S. Department of State
ELEntity ListBureau of Industry and SecurityU.S. Department of Commerce
FSEForeign Sanctions EvadersOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of Treasury
ISNNonproliferation SanctionsBureau of International Security and Non-ProliferationU.S. Department of State
MEUMilitary End UserBureau of Industry and SecurityU.S. Department of Commerce
NS-CMICNon-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies ListOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of the Treasury
NS-ISANon-SDN Iranian SanctionsOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of Treasury
NS-MBSNon-SDN Menu-Based SanctionsOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of Treasury
PLCPalestinian Legislative CouncilOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of Treasury
SDNSpecially Designated NationalsOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of Treasury
SSISectoral Sanctions Identifications ListOffice of Foreign Assets ControlU.S. Department of Treasury
UVLUnverified ListBureau of Industry and SecurityU.S. Department of Commerce

When "hits" are found based on a fuzzy search of a business' name and officers. If a DOB is included with a submitted person, we will add an extra check to make sure the DOB exactly matches a hit. The watchlist results will be returned in the API response.

If only a subset of these lists are necessary for your compliance program, you can configure which lists and agencies the watchlist will run against on the dashboard in your account settings.

The watchlist object

The watchlist response has a container for displaying top-level information around watching screening.

{
  "id": "3fc438eb-1234-4fc1-bb5e-fcac60db2e2e",
  "object": "watchlist",
  "lists": [
    {
      "abbr": "DPL",
      "title": "Denied Persons List",
      "agency": "Bureau of Industry and Security",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "BIS",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Commerce"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "DTC",
      "title": "AECA/ITAR Debarred",
      "agency": "Directorate of Defense Trade Controls",
      "results": [
        {
          "id": "a6be972d-2eff-4785-a57f-f2b834f3fb96",
          "object": "watchlist_result",
          "listed_at": null,
          "entity_name": "Gia An Du",
          "entity_aliases": [
            "Anthony Huynh",
            "Simon Du",
            "Gia Simon Du"
          ],
          "agency_list_url": "http://bit.ly/307FuRQ",
          "agency_information_url": "http://bit.ly/307FuRQ"
        }
      ],
      "agency_abbr": "DDTC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of State"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "EL",
      "title": "Entity List",
      "agency": "Bureau of Industry and Security",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "BIS",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Commerce"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "SDN",
      "title": "Specially Designated Nationals",
      "agency": "Office of Foreign Assets Control",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "OFAC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Treasury"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "NSISA",
      "title": "Non-SDN Iranian Sanctions Act",
      "agency": "Office of Foreign Assets Control",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "OFAC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Treasury"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "FSE",
      "title": "Foreign Sanctions Evaders",
      "agency": "Office of Foreign Assets Control",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "OFAC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Treasury"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "ISN",
      "title": "Nonproliferation Sanctions",
      "agency": "Bureau of International Security and Non-Proliferation",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "ISN",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of State"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "P561",
      "title": "Foreign Financial Institutions Subject to Part 561",
      "agency": "Office of Foreign Assets Control",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "OFAC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Treasury"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "PLC",
      "title": "Palestinian Legislative Council",
      "agency": "Office of Foreign Assets Control",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "OFAC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Treasury"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "SSI",
      "title": "Sectoral Sanctions Identifications",
      "agency": "Office of Foreign Assets Control",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "OFAC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Treasury"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "UVL",
      "title": "Unverified List",
      "agency": "Bureau of Industry and Security",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "BIS",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Commerce"
    },
    {
      "abbr": "CAP",
      "title": "Capta List",
      "agency": "Office of Foreign Assets Control",
      "results": [],
      "agency_abbr": "OFAC",
      "organization": "U.S. Department of Treasury"
    }
  ],
  "agencies": [
    {
      "org": "U.S. Department of Treasury",
      "abbr": "OFAC",
      "name": "Office of Foreign Assets Control"
    },
    {
      "org": "U.S. Department of Commerce",
      "abbr": "BIS",
      "name": "Bureau of Industry and Security"
    },
    {
      "org": "U.S. Department of State",
      "abbr": "DDTC",
      "name": "Directorate of Defense Trade Controls"
    },
    {
      "org": "U.S. Department of State",
      "abbr": "ISN",
      "name": "Bureau of International Security and Non-Proliferation"
    }
  ],
  "hit_count": 1
}
AttributeTypeDescription
idstringUnique identifier for the object
objectstring, value is "watchlist"A definition of the type of object returned
listsobject[]The details of any potential matches of that entity against the search list
hit_countnumberThe number of watchlist hits found

The list object

Inside the watchlist object, many lists are found under the lists key. Each list, has the following attributes.

AttributeTypeDescription
abbrstringThe watchlist abbreviation/code (see table above)
titlestringThe full name for the watchlist (see table above)
agencystringThe agency responsible for maintaining the watchlist (see table above)
agency_abbrstringThe agency's abbreviated name (see table above)
organizationstringThe governing organization for the agency
resultsobject[]Hits or results for the watchlist based on business name or officer name match

The result object

As mentioned above, results will be included with each watchlist. When hits are found, one or many result objects will be found in this collection. When no hits are found, the collection will be empty.

AttributeTypeDescription
idstringUnique identifier for the object
objectstring, value is watchlist_resultA definition of the type of object returned
listed_attimestampWhen the result was listed
entity_namestringThe proper name for the entity matched
entity_aliasesstring[]A list of aliases for the person or business
agency_list_urlstringA short link to the agency's posting for the record
agency_information_urlstringA short link to the agency's information
scorestringThe confidence score for the result
addressesstring[]Addresses associated with the watchlist hit
urlstringUrl link to the watchlist hit

Date of Birth Watchlist Filter for Submitted People:

In order to utilize the date of birth configuration for Watchlist, you will also need to pass in the additional field of "dob" in the people object either in the Create a Business or Update a Business API calls. Similar to the name field for people, you can utilize the date of birth field for more than just one submitted "person." After setting the Date of Birth Fuzzy Match Tolerance settings, you will only receive positive watchlist hits if the submitted date of birth field is within the setting's parameters.

Create/Patch a Business Request:

{"people":
 [
        {
            "name": "Jane Doe",
            "dob": "1990-01-01"
        },
        {
            "name": "John Doe",
            "dob": "1988-10-23"
        }
 ]
}