World-Check One PEP Screening: Identify Politically Exposed Persons Automatically
PEP status is easy to miss in manual research, and under FICA it creates enhanced due diligence obligations the moment you take the client on. Miss a domestic or foreign PEP, or a close associate, and the file fails the inspection that matters.
We wire your CRM to World-Check One so FICA PEP checks run at onboarding and when status changes.
Sound Familiar?
These are the exact gaps we see on wealth and private-banking desks before automated PEP screening:
- Onboarding officers research PEP status by hand across news, company filings, and incomplete lists
- Family members and close associates of PEPs slip through because nobody thinks to check them
- A client becomes a PEP after onboarding and nobody notices until the next annual review
- Enhanced due diligence files lack senior-management sign-off, source-of-wealth notes, or a clear audit trail
- FIC or Prudential Authority inspectors find inconsistent PEP identification across the same book
In April 2025 the Prudential Authority fined Absa R10 million, with R7 million linked to weak CDD and EDD on PEP, FPPO, and DPIP files. Capitec faced R56.25 million in FIC Act sanctions that also cited PEP screening and high-risk review failures. Supervisors are reading those files closely after South Africa left the FATF grey list.
What World-Check One PEP Screening Actually Does
New client lands in the CRM → World-Check screens for PEPs → hit routes to compliance → EDD starts with a full trail.
Client Created in CRM
Onboarding or relationship team opens a new individual, entity, or beneficial owner record
World-Check PEP Screen
Name, date of birth, and nationality screened against World-Check PEP and RCA profiles
Hit Routed to Compliance
Clear matches and ambiguous hits land in the MLRO queue with profile context attached
EDD Applied Consistently
Senior approval, source-of-wealth checks, and ongoing monitoring kick off with CRM risk flags
Everything You Need for Reliable FICA PEP Checks
Onboarding PEP Screen
Every new client, beneficial owner, and authorised person is screened against LSEG World-Check PEP databases the moment the CRM record is created.
Family & Associate Coverage
World-Check covers primary PEPs plus relatives and close associates, so FICA-linked relationships are not left to memory or Google searches.
Status-Change Alerts
When an existing client is newly flagged as a PEP, the compliance queue gets an alert so EDD starts before the next scheduled review.
EDD Workflow Triggers
A confirmed PEP hit opens the enhanced due diligence checklist: senior-management approval, source of wealth, source of funds, and ongoing monitoring.
CRM Risk Flags
PEP status, risk tier, and last-screened date write back to the CRM so relationship managers see the obligation without leaving their desk.
Audit-Ready Case Packs
Screening results, dispositions, and approvals sit in one trail inspectors can follow from first contact to current monitoring.
Systems We've Connected to World-Check One
From 75 Minutes a Client to Under 8
How a private-banking onboarding desk stopped missing PEPs and made every EDD file look the same under review.
The Manual Process
- Onboarding officers googled names and skimmed company filings for political links
- Average 75 minutes per new private-client relationship on PEP research alone
- Family members and associates rarely screened unless someone remembered
- Clients who became PEPs mid-relationship sat unnoticed until annual review
- EDD packs varied by officer: missing approvals, thin source-of-wealth notes
The Automated Process
- CRM create triggers a World-Check One PEP screen in seconds
- Clear hits and ambiguous matches route to compliance with profile context
- Confirmed PEPs open a standard EDD checklist with senior-management sign-off
- Status-change alerts catch newly flagged individuals between reviews
- Inspectors follow one trail from screen result to approval to monitoring
Before vs After PEP Screening Integration
How It Works
From first conversation to live PEP screening in 3–6 weeks.
Map Your PEP Process
Who screens today, which systems hold client data, and where FICA EDD decisions get stuck.
Free Scoping Call
30-minute call to design World-Check One PEP screening around your RMCP and onboarding flow.
Build & Parallel Test
We wire CRM-to-World-Check screening, alert routing, and CRM write-back, then run parallel against live onboarding.
Go Live & Monitor
Manual list-checking stops. Ongoing alerts catch newly flagged PEPs so EDD stays consistent.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does FICA require for politically exposed persons?
Accountable institutions must determine whether a client, beneficial owner, or person acting for them is a foreign politically exposed person (FPEP), domestic politically exposed person (DPEP), or prominent influential person (PIP). Where risk is elevated, sections 21F to 21H require senior-management approval, reasonable measures to establish source of wealth and source of funds, and enhanced ongoing monitoring. Immediate family members and known close associates are in scope too.
How is World-Check One PEP screening different from a sanctions-only check?
Sanctions lists catch designated individuals and entities. PEP screening identifies people who hold, or are linked to, positions of public power, plus relatives and close associates. World-Check holds roughly 2.1 million PEP and RCA profiles, about 44% of its risk dataset, which is the coverage your onboarding desk needs for FICA PEP checks.
Will this slow down private-banking or wealth onboarding?
No. Screening runs when the CRM or onboarding record is created, usually in seconds. Your team only spends time on genuine or ambiguous matches. Manual PEP research that used to take 30 to 45 minutes per alert drops to a short disposition on the hit that matters.
What happens when a client becomes a PEP after onboarding?
Ongoing monitoring in World-Check One raises an alert when status changes. We route that alert to compliance, flag the CRM record, and open the EDD checklist so the relationship is reassessed before the next annual review, not after an inspection finds the gap.
Which systems can you connect for FICA PEP checks?
We have connected HubSpot, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, wealth platforms, and custom onboarding portals to World-Check One. If your client record lives in a system with an API, we can screen it and write PEP status back.
How much does a World-Check One PEP screening integration cost?
Typical builds that screen at onboarding, write risk flags back to the CRM, and route newly flagged PEP alerts run from about R35,000 to R80,000 depending on systems and EDD workflow complexity. Against R400 to R830 of analyst time per manual alert review, most desks see payback within a few months of live volume.
Stop Relying on Manual Politically Exposed Person Research
If your desk still decides PEP status from memory and news searches, you are carrying the same risk pattern regulators have already fined for.
Tell us which CRM or onboarding system you use, how FICA PEP checks run today, and where EDD decisions get stuck. We will show you exactly how World-Check One screening would sit in your workflow.