16 Aug Sanctions Screening in the Time of COVID-19
COVID-19 has made it harder for organizations to focus on third-party risks. So says a new report on the effects of COVID-19 on risk and compliance. The pandemic has resulted in "more opportunities for criminals to defraud consumers and companies." As the pandemic seized everyone's attention, a consequence was relaxed pressure to sustain compliance and prevention efforts compared to 2019. Reorienting and enabling work by remote workers, not compliance, was top of mind. Meanwhile a host of bad characters sought to exploit the disruptions. Among the report's findings: 60 percent of 2,900 respondents agree that the pandemic forced them to take shortcuts with know-your-customer and due diligence checks. In the specific area of sanction screening, there is good news and bad. The good news is that 40 percent of respondents actually made sanctions screening a greater priority during Covid. Yet, in the broader picture, 56 percent admit that they “have not fully managed risks related to sanction screening.” The report points out that while COVID-19 has been disruptive, compliance gaps were a problem well before the pandemic. For example, a 2019 risk survey found that 49 percent of third-party relationships had been subjected to due diligence checks, compared to 44 percent in this...