FAQ

Administration

• How to change your Organisation's Compliance Officer who is still with the organisation
• How to change your Organisation's Compliance Officer who has left the organisation
• How to print a list of matches with specific decisions?
• How to print a list of all scan results for audit purposes?

Scanning

• What names appear under Also Known As?
• Determining if a member is a true match or a false match
• How do I scan a name by the Original Script?
• How do I scan for a monomymous or single name?
• Is Member Number or Entity Number important?
• What if I don't have a Member Number
• Why am I not able to perform due diligence decisions on my matches?
• Why is my batch file failing?
• How do I reduce the number of false positives in my member scan matches?
• How do I know if it is safe to onboard a customer from the scan results?

API

• How do I use the API to scan a member and view returned results
• Is there an API sandbox?

How to change your Organisation's Compliance Officer who is still with the organisation¶

Please refer to the information provided in Changing Compliance Officers. If you are unsure and require assistance, please see below for details.

A director of the company should send an email to MemberCheck Support (support@membercheck.com) to authorise the change of Compliance Officer. The following details should be provided in the email:

1. Authorisation to change Compliance Officer
2. Confirmation to disable or change the role of the outgoing Compliance Officer
3. Full name and email address of the new Compliance Officer.

If the outgoing Compliance Officer user account is to be retained, the role will be changed to Advanced User.

How to change your Organisation's Compliance Officer who has left the organisation¶

Please refer to the information provided in Changing Compliance Officers. If you are unsure and require assistance, please see below for details.

A director of the company should send an email to MemberCheck Support (support@membercheck.com) to authorise the change of Compliance Officer. The following details should be provided in the email:

1. Authorisation to change Compliance Officer
2. Confirmation to disable the existing Compliance Officer account
3. Full name and email address of the new Compliance Officer.

How to print a list of matches with specific decisions?¶

• Go to Scan History of either Member or Corporate
• Select Batch and Single Scans and the required Decisions options
• Click the Report button and export the report as an Excel, PDF or Word file.

How to print a list of all scan results for audit purposes?¶

• Go to Scan History of either Member or Corporate
• Select a date range or leave blank to report on all scans
• Select Batch and Single Scans, Match Found and No Match Found options
• Click the Search button to view the results
• Click the Report button and export the report as an Excel, PDF or Word file.

What names appear under Also Known As?¶

This section contains AKAs (Also Known As) and FKAs (Formerly Known As) for both individual and entity profiles. For individuals, it may contain last names, first names, or both. It contains names which differ partially or completely from the name contained in the primary name fields, or names in addition to the name contained in the primary name fields.

For entity profiles, AKA may also contain vessel identifiers (IMO).

Determining if a member is a true match or a false match¶

If you are having difficulty determining if a member is a true match or a false match:

• Record the Match Decision as “Not Sure” until additional information is provided that enables a more definitive decision to be made.
• Allocate a Risk, either Low, Medium or High, based on the profile. Check to see what activities the entity may have been involved in, in the past. Also check or any current or expired orders.
• Monitor the member's transactions for a period to determine if any activity is suspicious.
• Based on the above information, conduct enhanced due diligence if you determine that it is required, ie “obtain information about the source of wealth or funds of the customer or beneficial owner and take reasonable steps to verify the source of that wealth”.
• If still unsure, seek assistance from your compliance and legal team.

How do I scan a name by the Original Script?¶

You can scan by the Original Script Name (e.g. Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Korean, Japanese, Thai and other non-Latin/Roman scripts). The Original Script Name is an option that can be enabled by the Compliance Officer for the organisation as an additional search field.

The non-Latin/Roman script name must be entered into the Original Script Name field to search against the Original Script Name in the watchlist record. There is no script conversion applied to the name fields (First Name, Middle Name, Last Name). Latin/Roman script names should be entered into the name fields.

How do I scan for a monomymous or single name?¶

You can scan for individuals with mononymous names (single names) by entering a dash - in the First Name field, and entering their name into the Last Name field.

Is Member Number or Entity Number important?¶

Member Number (e.g. client reference or account number) is the organisation’s unique number used to identify the individual being scanned. A Member Number is required for recording due diligence decisions, reporting and reconciliation, as well as ongoing monitoring of a member.

Similarly, an Entity Number is required for recording due diligence decisions, reporting and reconciliation, as well as ongoing monitoring of a corporate entity.

What if I don't have a Member Number?¶

Member Number (e.g. client reference or account number) is the organisation’s unique number used to identify the individual being scanned. It is used for recording due diligence decisions, reporting and reconciliation.

In cases where individuals do not have and never will have a member number, such as staff for example, arbitrary member numbers can be used and prefixed by a letter, or letters, to distinguish them from your regular client base.

In cases where individuals may be allocated a member number in the future, such as new clients for example, an arbitrary number should not be allocated. The client number that will be allocated to the individual when they become a 'new client' should be used as the member number for scanning purposes. In this way due diligence decisions will be allocated to the real client number and subsequently the whitelist will also be appropriately applied to that member number.

Why am I not able to perform due diligence decisions on my matches?¶

You will need to associate a Member Number with the member during scans. A Member Number is required if you would like to perform due diligence on the member. Similarly for corporate due diligence, you will need to associated an Entity Number with the corporate entity during scans.

Once a Member Number is included during the scan, the options to include due diligence decisions with assessed risk levels for matched profiles will be visible to you.

Why is my batch file failing?¶

There are 3 supported formats for batch file scanning, CSV, XML and API.

CSV format batch files

Refer to the following sections for details and examples of the CSV fields and formatting:

• Member CSV Batch Files
• Corporate CSV Batch Files

When using CSVs, please take note of the following factors which may invalidate your file:

For Member batch files:

• Check that all mandatory fields are included

• A single member should be contained in a single row/line.

  Use a text editor to view formatting and invisible characters

  You can use Notepad++ for Windows, or Atom for Mac or Linux or alternative preferred text editors to view if the number for fields are correct for each row as well as invisible characters such as new line characters or carriage return characters.

• Do not add spaces between field separators

• Remove any trailing spaces at the end of the line/row

• Do not include headers, footers or blank lines/rows in the file

• Batch files containing diacritics and original script name should be UTF-8 encoded

• Commas are required to separate all fields even if they are blank. There should be a minimum of 7 fields

  Record with only FirstName, LastName (no MemberNumber, MiddleName, DateofBirth or Address)

  OrgID,,FirstName,,LastName,,

• Multiple names in First Name, Middle Name or Last Name should be separated by a blank space

  First Name and Last Name contains multiple names

  OrgID,MemberNumber,Anne Marie,Sarah,Van Hallen,DateofBirth,Address

• First Names and Middle Names can be combined in FirstName, with MiddleName left blank.

  Combine First and Middle Name into FirstName

  OrgID,MemberNumber,Anne Marie Sarah,,Van Hallen,DateofBirth,Address

• Single or mononymous name should be added to the LastName. FirstName should include a dash (-)

  Dash in FirstName, single name in LastName

  OrgID,MemberNumber,-,,SUHARTO,,

• If the Address contains commas (,) to distinguish them from the commas used to separate the fields, the address should be enclosed in double quotes

  Multiple lines or commas in Address

  OrgID,MemberNumber,FirstName,MiddleName,LastName,DateofBirth,“7 Railway Street, Chatswood, NSW Australia”

XML format batch files

Refer to the following sections for details of the data type definition to ensure your XML are well formed and valid:

• Member XML Batch Files
• Corporate XML Batch Files

RESTful API

If your MemberCheck subscription includes access to API, you can access the RESTful API documentation in Main Menu > API. This link is available to all user roles within the organisation.

An API sandbox is available in the Developer Access Centre. Refer to the REST API Integration section of this guide for more information.

How do I reduce the number of false positives in my member scan matches?¶

MemberCheck is not able to provide any recommendations on your organisation's scan settings for your AML/CTF obligation. However, you can refer to the following information to assist you with optimising your scan settings to reduce false positives.

As the Compliance Officer, it is important to review and set up the scan settings in Administration > Organisation > Settings to exclude or filter scans which are not relevant.

The following settings and policies should be reviewed:

• Default Country of Residence, Country of Residence Policy, and Default Country for Blank Addresses

  These 3 settings work in combination to enable the system to match the Member's country of residence against the watchlists. Where a member's country of residence is not able to be identified in the member's Address during a PEP & Sanction scan, the Default Country of Residence defined by the CO will be used. Where a member's Address is blank, the Default Country of Residence can additionally be applied.

• Ignore Blank DOB

  Enabling this setting will enforce matching against date of birth of the member. This will require a DOB to be entered during PEP & Sanction scanning, and the system will only return results where there is a match against the DOB. Where profiles in the watchlists do not contain DOB, these profiles will not be returned in the results.

• Close Match Rate

  Close Match Rate sets the results returned based on the closeness of the match by assigning a percentage where 100% is very close and 1% being very fuzzy. The default Close match rate recommended by the system is 80%, however the Compliance Officer may specify a different Close Match Rate to be applied for all scans, or leave the closeness of the match up to the user during scan.

  A reasonable close match rate should be considered during scanning as a low Close Match Rate could return large number of results containing all types of variations of the First Name and Last Name.

• Exclude Deceased Persons

  Persons who have been tagged as deceased can be excluded from scan results. This setting can be preset or enabled for selection during PEP & Sanction screening.

For more information on these fields and their impact, please refer to Minimise false matches for scans

How do I know if it is safe to onboard a customer from the scan results¶

MemberCheck does not provide such specific information as to whether an individual or company is safe to onboard or not. The acceptance to onboard a customer is dependent on your organisation's risk appetite, and AML/CTF and KYC compliance obligations.

If the PEP and Sanction screen returns with no results, it would be safe to onboard the customer. Where results are returned, you will need to assess and perform due diligence to check if any of those results are a match for your customer. If none of the results are a match to your customer, then it would be safe to onboard them.

If there is a match with your customer, you will need to decide the type and level of risk posed by the person or company and if you are able to accept those risks for onboarding. Consider for example, a politically exposed person (PEP). This person may have a higher level of exposure to corruption and bribery etc, however, they may have not done anything wrong. In this scenario, you may consider this person an acceptable risk for onboarding.

How do I use the API to scan a member and view returned results¶

For this example, we will be referring to the REST API.

The API is provided using a modular approach and has separate method of requests for scans and results.

For example, to scan an individual customer, you need to send a POST {URL}/api/v1/member-scans/single.

If the request is successful, you will receive a matchedNumber return response.

If there are no matches for your scan i.e. matchedNumber is 0, your customer does not pose any known risks and there is nothing further you need to do with the API.

If there are matches for your scan, matchedNumber will return the number of profile results found, and will include a unique resultId of each of the matched profiles found. You will then need to follow up with an API request GET {URL}/member-scans/single/results/{resultId} for each of the profiles found to retrieve details of the profile for your own due diligence and assessment. If there are multiple results returned, you may want to run this request for each of the profiles found.

Check out the API documentation for more information.

Is there an API sandbox?¶

If your organisation has been enabled for the API service, you will be able to see the Integration link in the Main Menu after logging in to the system.

This link will allow the user to generate an API Access Key which is required in the Developer Centre if you want to try running the code for methods which require authentication.

All API tests performed in the Sandbox will count towards the Organisation scan count. If you need to test the API without impacting on the organisation scan count, please contact support@membercheck.com with this request.