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Transaction Screening


Sanctions screening without running the engine yourself

Screening payments against sanctions lists means keeping an engine current, maintaining the lists, and managing false positives. Transaction Screening is hosted and maintained by Swift, so your team investigates alerts instead of running infrastructure.


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What it is.

Screen Every Transaction

Transaction Screening is a hosted service that screens incoming and outgoing messages against current sanctions lists. It is used by more than 1,000 banks and corporates.

Why it matters.

Stay Current Without the Overhead

 You carry no screening infrastructure and no list maintenance. Swift updates lists within hours and hosts the engine, so compliance stays current without your intervention.

How it helps.

Strengthen Real-Time Compliance

 Real-time screening covers MT, MX, and ISO 20022, including SEPA. Rules can target incoming, outgoing, or both, and a four-eyes workflow controls decisions.

Overview


Transaction Screening runs from a single hosted portal, alongside Payment Controls, so screening and fraud workflows sit under one roof. You can filter what is screened by message type, currency, amount, and destination, and apply exception rules to reduce false positives.

The engine uses Smart Screening, which draws on the richer data of ISO 20022 to cut false positives. Logical tests and thresholds are set to match your risk appetite, supported by alert management for quick decisions. Swift commissions independent reviews of the engine, giving visibility into filter configuration and capability.

Transaction Screening runs from a single hosted portal, alongside Payment Controls, so screening and fraud workflows sit under one roof. You can filter what is screened by message type, currency, amount, and destination, and apply exception rules to reduce false positives.The engine uses Smart Screening, which draws on the richer data of ISO 20022 to cut false positives. Logical tests and thresholds are set to match your risk appetite, supported by alert management for quick decisions. Swift commissions independent reviews of the engine, giving visibility into filter configuration and capability.

Benefits


 No screening infrastructure

Swift hosts the engine and keeps sanctions lists current within hours, with nothing to run on your side.


 ISO 20022 coverage

Screen FIN and ISO 20022 traffic directly on the network as cross-border payments move to the new standard.


 Fewer false positives

Smart Screening uses richer ISO 20022 data, and exception rules and thresholds reduce noise for investigators.


 One compliance portal

Transaction Screening and Payment Controls share a single dashboard for screening and fraud workflows.

FAQs

Very little. The service is hosted by Swift, which handles the engine, list updates, and security. Onboarding runs through planning, ordering, implementation, and testing before go-live.

MT, MX, and ISO 20022, including SEPA. You can screen incoming traffic, outgoing traffic, or both.

MT, MX, and ISO 20022, including SEPA. You can screen incoming traffic, outgoing traffic, or both.

Lists are updated within hours. Swift maintains them centrally so your team does not.

Smart Screening uses ISO 20022 data to reduce them, and you can apply exception rules and custom thresholds to match your risk appetite.
Swift commissions independent reviews of the engine and provides reports on generic and user-specific filter configuration and capability.

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