Sanctions Settings
Sanctions settings control how Strise screens entities against sanctions lists, including which entities are screened, which sources are used, and how matches are scored and evaluated.
Sanctions Screening
Entity Scope
Sanctions screening is performed on entities in your portfolio. The scope of screening depends on the entity type and its relationships:
| Entity Type | Screening Behavior |
|---|---|
| Companies | Screened directly against sanctions lists |
| Persons (roles) | Persons with roles in your companies are screened |
| Owners | Owners of your companies are screened |
| Beneficial Owners | Beneficial owners are screened |
| Subsidiaries | Subsidiaries of your companies may be screened based on configuration |
| Related Entities | Entities connected through the Knowledge Graph may be screened |
Risk Categories
Sanctions hits are classified into risk categories:
| Risk Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Sanctions | Direct match against a sanctions list |
| Financial Sanctions | Specifically financial/asset-freeze sanctions |
| Law Enforcement | Wanted lists and law enforcement databases |
| Regulatory Enforcement | Regulatory action and enforcement lists |
| State-Owned Enterprise | State-owned enterprise registries |
| Exclusion Lists | Procurement and trade exclusion lists |
Sanctions Sources
Strise aggregates sanctions and watchlist data from several regulatory bodies and delivers them as the following source groups. Each group can be enabled or disabled independently per team:
| Source Group | Description | Enabled by default |
|---|---|---|
| EU | EU Consolidated List (CFSP / Common Foreign and Security Policy) | Yes |
| OFAC | US Office of Foreign Assets Control lists, including the OFAC SDN and consolidated OFAC lists | Yes |
| UK | UK HM Treasury Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) consolidated list | Yes |
| UN | United Nations Security Council consolidated list | Yes |
| SECO | Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs consolidated list | Yes |
| DOW_JONES | Dow Jones Risk & Compliance — a comprehensive global sanctions & watchlist provider (1,359 lists). When enabled, it replaces the built-in sources above rather than adding to them. See below. | No |
| CUSTOM | Custom lists maintained by your team | No |
Dow Jones (expanded coverage)
Enabling Dow Jones switches sanctions screening to Dow Jones Risk & Compliance in place of the built-in EU / OFAC / UK / UN / SECO sources. It screens against 1,359 sanctions and watchlists globally — covering the same major regimes (EU, OFAC, UN, UK, …) plus wider international coverage such as Canadian DFATD and Japanese MOF lists. Custom lists continue to screen independently.
Within Dow Jones, lists are grouped by issuing authority. Lists that don’t map to a named group — including the UK lists (FCDO / OFSI Sanctions List, HM Treasury) — appear under Uncategorised in Settings → Sanctions and are screened by default.
Looking for a specific list — e.g. the UK Sanctions List? On Dow Jones it’s included as FCDO (UK) Sanctions List – Asset Freeze, listed under Uncategorised. The complete, always-current set of lists is viewable in-app under Settings → Sanctions.
Matching
Minimum Fuzzy Name Match
The fuzzy name match threshold controls how similar an entity’s name must be to a sanctions list entry to be considered a potential match:
| Parameter | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Fuzzy Name Match | 90% — 100% | 97% |
- Higher values (e.g., 99—100%) produce fewer matches but may miss legitimate hits where names are slightly different.
- Lower values (e.g., 90—95%) produce more matches, including more false positives, but are less likely to miss true matches.
Scoring
Sanctions match scoring uses a weighted system to calculate an overall match score based on multiple data fields.
Data Field Weighting
| Data Field | Weight | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | 100 | How closely the entity name matches the list entry name |
| Inception/Birth Date | 100 | Match on date of incorporation (companies) or birth date (persons) |
| Country | 50 | Match on country of registration, nationality, or address |
The overall match score is calculated as a weighted combination of individual field scores.
Suggested True Match Threshold
| Parameter | Default |
|---|---|
| Suggested True Match Threshold | 80% |
Matches scoring above this threshold are flagged as suggested true matches in the interface, indicating a high confidence that the match is genuine. Matches below the threshold are still shown but require more careful manual review.
How Changes Affect Monitoring
When you modify sanctions settings:
- Adding sanctions sources: Entities will be re-screened against the new sources during the next monitoring cycle. New matches may generate alerts.
- Removing sanctions sources: Existing matches from the removed sources will be resolved. This may generate resolution alerts.
- Changing the fuzzy match threshold: A lower threshold may surface new matches that were previously below the cutoff. A higher threshold may resolve existing marginal matches.
- Changing scoring weights: The match scores for existing hits will be recalculated, which may move matches above or below the suggested true match threshold.
Default Settings Summary
| Setting | Default Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum Fuzzy Name Match | 97% |
| Name Weight | 100 |
| Inception/Birth Date Weight | 100 |
| Country Weight | 50 |
| Suggested True Match Threshold | 80% |
| Source Groups Enabled | EU, OFAC, UK, UN, SECO |
| Dow Jones Source | Disabled by default |