PEP and sanctions screening and dispositioning, done right

Published on:
April 30, 2025
Updated on:
April 30, 2025

PEP and sanctions screening has always been noisy.

Most systems flag matches, but stop short of giving users the context and control to make confident calls.

We’ve taken that foundation and built something better.

Context, clarity, and confidence in screening

Strise’s upgraded dispositioning gives teams complete control over each hit:

  • See what a hit is, why it’s flagged, and what to do next
  • Review fuzzy matches with transparent scoring (name similarity, date of birth, country, and more)
  • Confirm or reject a hit with a full audit trail
  • Document your decision and export for regulators
  • Track system-suggested vs. user-confirmed outcomes at a glance

This is more than flagging. It’s verification with context.

From augmented to autonomous

Since launching the new dispositioning feature, AML teams have:

  • Reduced false positives
  • Structured decision-making
  • Documented actions for audit-readiness

But as alert volumes grow and pressure on L1 teams increases, a new question keeps surfacing: Can Agentic AI do this for me?

That’s the challenge we’ve taken on in the Strise Product Lab, testing a new way to handle PEP and sanctions alerts using Agentic AI (Beta).

Why agentic AI is different

There’s a lot of hype around AI in compliance right now. But here’s the thing:

Not all AI is built the same.

Most tools are passive. They offer:

  • Suggestions
  • Summaries
  • Scores

Agentic AI acts.

AI that executes, not just assists

Agentic AI doesn’t just assist, it autonomously executes decisions using:

  • Predefined logic
  • Real-time data
  • Risk context

It behaves more like a digital team member than a tool.

Where traditional AI says,

“Here’s a score.”
Agentic AI says,
“Here’s what I did—and why.”

What Strise agentic AI does (Beta)

  • Automatically reviews and dispositions PEP and sanctions alerts
  • Justifies each decision with human-readable reasoning
  • Updates outcomes, logs actions, and escalates edge cases to humans

This creates a new layer that handles high-volume alerts quickly and consistently—while your team focuses on the edge cases that require human insight

Currently in beta with a small group of early testers, this feature is designed to:

  • Reduce manual workloads
  • Ensure transparent audit trails
  • Enable faster, consistent remediation

Adrian Trzeciak, Head of Engineering at Strise

“Our goal with autonomous dispositioning is to let compliance teams focus on judgement calls, while the system handles the rest with speed and reliability.”
Author

FAQ

How does fuzzy matching improve PEP screening accuracy?

Fuzzy matching accounts for spelling variations, transliteration differences, and name order variations that exact-match filters miss. By displaying match confidence scores, it enables analysts to quickly distinguish high-confidence matches from potential false positives.

What is agentic AI in sanctions screening and how does it help?

Agentic AI automatically evaluates match confidence, contextual data, and disposal rules to make autonomous decisions on clear matches. This Level 1 automation eliminates manual review of obvious matches, freeing analysts to focus on genuinely ambiguous cases.

Why is contextual information important in sanctions screening?

Raw name matches generate false positives. Contextual dispositioning uses available data like date of birth, nationality, and entity type to confirm or reject matches, dramatically reducing false positives without missing genuine sanctions hits.

What does Level 1 automation mean in sanctions compliance?

Level 1 automation refers to fully autonomous decisions on clear-cut cases such as sanctions matches with high confidence scores and no conflicting data. This accelerates case closure while maintaining governance through documented decision rules and audit trails.

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sales@strise.ai