Financial Compliance
Adverse Media Screening
Adverse media screening searches news and open sources for negative financial-crime related information about a customer.
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Financial Compliance Terms
KYC, AML, sanctions screening, licensing, and related compliance terminology.
Educational information only. ShouldEye does not provide legal, banking, or individualized financial advice. Dispute rights, deadlines, and outcomes depend on your payment method, card network, issuer, processor, jurisdiction, and the facts of your case. Legal Disclaimers
46 published definitions in this topic.
Financial Compliance
Anti-Money Laundering
Anti-money laundering (AML) is the set of laws and controls that detect and prevent disguising criminal proceeds—including through gambling accounts and payouts.
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Banking License
A banking license is authorization to take deposits and conduct banking business as a bank.
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Beneficial Owner
A beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of ownership of an entity even if legal title is held in another name—central to gambling licensing transparency.
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Card Brand Registration
Card brand registration is enrolling a merchant, PayFac, or program with a card network as required for certain acquiring models.
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Card Scheme Rules
Card scheme rules are the operating regulations issued by card networks that acquirers and merchants must follow.
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Counter-Terrorist Financing
Counter-terrorist financing (CTF/CFT) aims to prevent funds from reaching terrorist organizations or activities.
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Customer Due Diligence
Customer due diligence (CDD) is the baseline identity and risk assessment performed on customers under AML rules.
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Enhanced Due Diligence
Enhanced due diligence (EDD) is deeper investigation applied to higher-risk merchants or customers.
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Financial Action Task Force
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental body that sets international AML/CFT standards and evaluates countries.
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High-Risk Jurisdiction
A high-risk jurisdiction is a country or territory identified as posing elevated money-laundering or terrorist-financing risk.
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Hosted Onboarding
Hosted onboarding is a provider-hosted UI that collects merchant KYC/KYB and bank details for payment activation.
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Know Your Business
Know Your Business (KYB) is due diligence that verifies a company’s identity, ownership, and activity before payment services are offered.
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Know Your Customer
Know Your Customer (KYC) is identity and due-diligence verification used by regulated firms—including licensed gambling operators—to understand who a customer is and manage financial-crime risk.
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MCC Misclassification
MCC misclassification is assigning a merchant category code that does not accurately reflect the merchant’s true business.
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Merchant Category Code
A Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit code classifying a merchant’s primary line of business for card processing.
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Merchant Category Risk
Merchant category risk is the elevated fraud, chargeback, or regulatory risk associated with certain MCCs or business types.
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Merchant Onboarding
Merchant onboarding is the end-to-end process of applying, verifying, underwriting, and activating a merchant for payment acceptance.
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Merchant Underwriting
Merchant underwriting is the risk assessment an acquirer or PayFac performs before approving a merchant for card processing.
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Money Services Business Registration
Money services business registration is US federal registration with FinCEN for businesses in defined MSB categories.
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Money Transmitter
A money transmitter is a business that transfers funds for customers, typically requiring state or national licensing.
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Money Transmitter License
A money transmitter license is US state authorization generally required to transmit money for customers as a business.
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OFAC Screening
OFAC screening checks parties against US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions lists.
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Ongoing Due Diligence
Ongoing due diligence is periodic or event-driven refresh of merchant or customer risk information after onboarding.
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Party Screening
Party screening checks customers, merchants, and related parties against sanctions, PEP, and adverse-media lists.
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Passporting
Passporting is a mechanism allowing a firm authorized in one country to provide services across a regional market under home-state supervision rules.
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Payment Institution License
A payment institution license is authorization to provide regulated payment services as a payment institution under local law.
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Payment License
A payment license is an authorization to provide regulated payment services under financial-services law.
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Payment Method Rules
Payment method rules are the network, scheme, or provider requirements that govern how a payment method may be used.
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Payment Underwriting
Payment underwriting is risk assessment applied when enabling a business to accept or move payments.
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Politically Exposed Person
A politically exposed person (PEP) is someone entrusted with a prominent public function, plus many relatives and close associates.
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Regulatory Authorization
Regulatory authorization is formal permission from a competent authority to carry on a regulated financial activity.
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Regulatory License
A regulatory license is authorization from a competent authority to provide regulated payment or financial services.
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Regulatory Registration
Regulatory registration is enrollment on an official register that may be lighter than full authorization.
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Safeguarding
Safeguarding in payments means protecting relevant customer funds from the firm’s insolvency risk using approved methods.
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Sanctions Screening
Sanctions screening checks customers and transactions against government sanctions and restricted-party lists.
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Simplified Due Diligence
Simplified due diligence (SDD) is a lighter CDD approach allowed only for demonstrably lower-risk situations.
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Source of Funds
Source of funds is the origin of the particular money used in a transaction or account activity.
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Source of Wealth
Source of wealth is the origin of a customer’s overall assets and how they were generated.
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Suspicious Activity Report
A suspicious activity report (SAR) is a confidential report filed with a financial-intelligence unit about possible financial crime.
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Suspicious Transaction Report
A suspicious transaction report (STR) is a report to authorities about a transaction or activity suspected to relate to money laundering or terrorist financing.
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Transaction Monitoring
Transaction monitoring is ongoing review of deposits, bets, and withdrawals to detect money-laundering, fraud, and other financial-crime patterns.
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Travel Rule
The travel rule requires certain originator and beneficiary information to accompany fund transfers between institutions, including many virtual-asset transfers above applicable thresholds.
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Ultimate Beneficial Owner
An ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company—critical in gambling licensing and AML checks.
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Underwriting Guidelines
Underwriting guidelines are the written criteria acquirers or platforms use to accept, restrict, or decline merchants.
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Watchlist Screening
Watchlist screening matches customers against broader risk lists beyond core sanctions lists.
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