Payment Screening

Accurate, Real‑Time Screening for Safer Payments

Process payments safely at scale with FOCAL’s patented screening engine. Every payment, including SWIFT MT, MX and internal payment messages, is screened to accurately surface sanctions risks and block risky transactions in real time.

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Features

Safely process payments in real-time

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Global Sanctions & Watchlist Screening

Access 1300+ global and regional watchlists, including sanctions, PEPs, RCAs, and internal lists to ensure comprehensive and up-to-date screening coverage.

Built-in Payment Standards Processing

Automatically parse ISO 15022 (MT), ISO 20022, and custom payment formats into structured data. Transform nested XML into structured payment information with full message hierarchy across SWIFT, RTGS, ACH, and instant payments.

Screening Templates

Define how payments are screened using configurable templates with custom thresholds, matching logic, and alert workflows tailored to different payment types.

Workflow Management

Attach configurable workflows to screening templates to route alerts using criteria like payment corridor, message type, asset type (e.g., vessel/trade finance), and alert risk, with standardized actions, escalation, and SLAs.

Pre‑Screening and Post-screening Rules

Filter transactions before and after the screening process, to reduce noise and suppress false positives before they hit the work queue, enabling investigators to focus on true risk instead.

Real‑Time Processing Engine

Meet strict payment SLAs with a processing engine purpose‑built for the instant payment era. Process millions of transactions daily with low‑latency, high‑throughput performance and horizontal scaling.

Blacklist Management

Manage internal blacklists for individuals, corporates, vessels, and other entities. Apply institution‑specific controls alongside global sanctions screening for stronger risk governance.

Alert Manager

Investigate alerts from a centralized hub with complete match details. Drill into any alert to review match results, analyze sanctions list hits, inspect entity profiles, addresses, and aliases for quick resolution.

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Benefits

How FOCAL improves Payment Screening

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Enhanced Compliance Assurance
Improve matching accuracy across all payment fields and reduce false positives using advanced AI and entity matching.
Comprehensive Suspicious Activity Detection
Streamline investigations with automated, configurable workflows for complete control over your screening operations.
Spot high-risk entities on worldwide watchlists
Seamlessly screen across SWIFT, RTGS, ACH, instant payments, and custom payment formats.
Precision in Alphabet Mapping
Increase true‑positive detection with accurate parsing, configurable screening rules and advanced AI based matching.
Customizable Security Measures
Create a strong governance layer with configurable screening templates to handle varying risks across payment corridors.
Real‑Time Decisioning at Scale
Maintain fast payment flows with a high‑performance screening engine.
USE CASES

How can FOCAL Help Your Organization

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Cross Border Payment Screening
Execute straight-through processing (STP) for international corridors by screening multiple jurisdictions and nested fields simultaneously, and ensure full compliance.
Screening Instant Payment Rails
Screen instant payments with accuracy and low latency, enabling rapid sanctions checks without slowing down transaction processing or disrupting payment flows.
Correspondent Banking Transactions
Detect sanctions risks across intermediary and correspondent banks by parsing the entire message hierarchy, ensuring even secondary sanctions (vessels, parent companies) are not missed.
High volume retail or remittances transactions
Uncover suspicious activities early with an AML platform that leverages dynamic rules with advanced ML models for unmatched accuracy.
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FAQ’s

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What types of payments can FOCAL screen?

    FOCAL supports screening across multiple payment types, including SWIFT MT, ISO 20022, RTGS, ACH, instant payments, and institution‑specific formats through configurable structures.

  • Can FOCAL work with our existing sanctions data provider?

    Yes. FOCAL supports major providers such as Dow Jones and World‑Check, as well as local lists and your own internal or private watchlists, so you are not locked into a single vendor.

  • Is FOCAL suitable for real‑time and instant payment rails?

    Yes. FOCAL is designed for low‑latency, real‑time screening and supports payment flows where decisions must be made within strict SLA and settlement timelines.

  • Can screening rules differ by payment type or corridor?

    Yes. Using Screening Templates, banks can define different rules, lists, thresholds, and workflows based on payment rail, corridor, or message type.

  • How are alerts managed and investigated?

    All screening alerts are routed to a centralized Alert Manager, where investigators can review match details, assign outcomes, apply workflows, and maintain a complete audit trail.

  • Is FOCAL configurable without heavy IT dependency?

    Yes. Most screening logic, templates, workflows, thresholds, and lists can be configured by compliance teams through the platform, reducing reliance on IT for day‑to‑day changes.

  • Can FOCAL support custom or local payment message formats beyond ISO 15022 and ISO 20022?

    Yes. In addition to ISO 15022 (MT) and ISO 20022, FOCAL allows institutions to configure custom or domestic payment message formats, enabling consistent screening across local, regional, and proprietary payment rails.

    • Strengthen AML Compliance with Dynamic Customer Risk Scoring

    See how FOCAL helps you build an always accurate, 360-degree customer profile that enables confident business decisions all the time.

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