About Thorsten:
Thorsten J. Gorny is Co-founder and CEO of sanctions.io. He has worked for more than 15 years in the tech industry, focusing on bringing ideas to life and building great teams and products. At sanctions.io, his primary responsibility is Business Development, Growth, and Strategy.
Why should we care about sanctions screening?
All companies and organizations should care about sanctions screening because sanctions compliance is essential for protecting both their business and its reputation in the marketplace. After all, multi-million dollar sanctions violations are becoming increasingly common, and the consequences of non-compliance can be devastating—both financially and reputationally.
Even within the compliance industry, it's often forgotten that all companies, and individuals like you and me, must comply with sanctions laws, unlike AML regulations, which tend to be more narrowly focused on financial institutions.
With advancements in regulatory technology, sanctions screening tools like sanctions.io have become essential components of modern compliance strategies.
What instigated your involvement in this field?
My involvement in the field of AML and sanctions screening was initially triggered by the experience of one of our co-founders. While running a previous startup, he faced significant challenges in finding a reliable screening partner. The existing options were either overly complex, lacked transparency in pricing, or provided technology that simply didn’t perform as needed. Experiencing this frustration with these limitations made us realize how much potential there was to do things differently.
We saw an opportunity to create a solution that directly addressed these pain points. With sanctions.io, our mission became clear: to offer businesses—both regulated and unregulated—a screening service that combines reliable data, advanced technology, fair pricing, and simplicity. We wanted to remove the obstacles that so many companies, like my co-founder’s, were facing and provide a solution that genuinely meets their needs.
Our guiding principle, "Less, but better," reflects this approach. Instead of over-complicating the process, we focus on the essentials:
Simplicity: A user-friendly and straightforward platform designed for efficiency.
Reliability: Accurate, up-to-date watchlist data businesses can trust.
Transparency: Fair pricing with no hidden costs or confusing contracts.
Accessibility: A solution for both heavily regulated sectors like FinTech and emerging industries like SaaS and technology.
Our journey has been truly transformative for me, not just as a professional challenge but as a learning experience. Working in the compliance space has shown me how unnecessarily complex and intimidating it can be for outsiders. Overly complicated language and convoluted processes often act as barriers, making it harder for businesses to stay compliant and efficient. This has underscored the importance of simplifying compliance—not just to improve regulatory adherence but to enhance overall operational efficiency.
At sanctions.io, we’re passionate about breaking down these barriers. By focusing on clarity, usability, and what truly matters, we empower businesses to navigate their compliance challenges with confidence and ease. Simplification isn’t just about making things easier—it’s about creating tools that are reliable, efficient, and accessible, helping businesses mitigate risk while operating more effectively.
This journey has taught me that true innovation lies in simplicity. It’s not about adding unnecessary layers—it’s about stripping them away to reveal what’s truly valuable.
We serve a wide range of industries, including FinTech, Insurance, Crypto, as well as less regulated sectors such as SaaS and other technology companies.
We serve a diverse range of industries, including FinTech, Insurance, Crypto, and less regulated sectors like for example, SaaS businesses and other technology companies. Each industry approaches sanctions screening differently, influenced by its unique regulatory environment, operational needs, and adoption of technology.
Traditionally, regulated industries such as FinTech and Insurance have had a compliance advantage due to the nature of their oversight. These companies are often more mature in implementing sanctions screening processes and are driven by mandatory regulatory requirements. However, it’s particularly interesting to observe how SaaS companies—despite facing fewer regulatory mandates—have rapidly adopted compliance best practices.
SaaS companies, in particular, stand out for their speed and effectiveness in building sanctions compliance programs. This sector’s openness to innovation and its strong technical expertise allow for seamless integration of advanced screening technologies into their workflows. Over the past few years, as regulatory expectations have expanded to include a broader range of industries, SaaS businesses have demonstrated remarkable adaptability. Their ability to leverage technology to streamline processes while ensuring compliance has set a benchmark for other sectors.
One of the key learnings from SaaS companies is their focus on efficiency and scalability. By adopting the right technologies, automating processes, and continuously optimizing their workflows, they’ve shown that compliance can be both effective and resource-efficient. This is particularly inspiring for companies in more traditional industries, which might view compliance as a resource-intensive challenge.
To illustrate these best practices, we’ve developed a case study with our client, data.world. This case study highlights how they successfully implemented sanctions screening, navigated the complexities of compliance, and achieved operational excellence. It’s a valuable resource for any organization looking to enhance its own compliance practices. You can access the full case study here.
What are the elements that are driving the growth in the number of sanctions screening providers in recent years?
The growth in the number of sanctions screening providers in recent years can be attributed to several key factors:
Increased Regulatory Pressure: Governments and international bodies are introducing stricter sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. This has heightened the need for businesses across industries—not just in finance but also in technology, real estate, and beyond—to implement effective screening processes to stay compliant.
Rising Penalties for Non-Compliance: The financial and reputational risks of failing to comply with sanctions regulations have grown significantly. Record-breaking fines and enforcement actions have pushed businesses to invest in reliable sanctions screening solutions to avoid these costly consequences.
Advancements in Technology: Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data analytics have made it easier to develop sophisticated screening processes. These technologies improve the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of sanctions screening, lowering barriers to entry for new providers while offering better solutions to customers.
Globalization of Business: As companies expand operations internationally, they face complex regulatory landscapes with overlapping sanctions regimes. This creates a greater need for solutions that can manage multi-jurisdictional compliance seamlessly.
Proliferation of Watchlists: The growing number of sanctions, Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), and other watchlists has increased the complexity of compliance, driving demand for specialized solutions capable of handling this complexity.
These elements together have fueled not only the demand for sanctions screening but also competition among providers. The result is a dynamic market where innovation, efficiency, and accuracy are driving differentiation among solutions.
How is sanctions.io differentiating itself, within this market expansion?
sanctions.io differentiates itself in this expanding market by focusing on three core principles that businesses highly value: reliability, simplicity, and transparency.
Reliability: We offer constantly updated, auditable watchlist data to ensure our clients have access to the most current information for compliance purposes. Our advanced matching technology reduces false positives, prevents false negatives, and enhances detection accuracy, allowing businesses to trust and rely on our screening results.
Simplicity: Our platform is designed for ease of use, with an intuitive interface and straightforward setup process. This allows companies to integrate our solution seamlessly into their existing workflows without the need for extensive technical expertise or resources.
Transparency: We provide clear and transparent pricing with no hidden costs or surprise fees. Clients know exactly what they are paying for, which builds trust and simplifies budgeting. Additionally, we maintain transparency in our processes and data handling, giving clients confidence in our services.
By focusing on these key areas, sanctions.io delivers a solution that not only meets the compliance needs of businesses across various industries but does so in a way that is user-friendly and cost-effective.
When choosing and implementing a sanctions screening service, what are key pitfalls to avoid?
When choosing and implementing a sanctions screening service, key pitfalls to avoid include:
Failing to consider specific compliance needs: Ensure the service meets your organization’s regulatory requirements, industry standards, and customer demographics.
Partnering with unreliable technology: Avoid providers with high false positive rates, or maybe even worse, high false negative rates, poor integration and customer support, or frequent downtime. Ensure the technology is fast, reliable, and integrates smoothly into your systems.
Ignoring data quality: Choose a provider that offers accurate, up-to-date and audible data with frequent updates to minimize the risk of non-compliance.
Overlooking scalability: Ensure the service can grow with your business, accommodating increased transaction volumes and evolving compliance requirements.
By addressing these issues, you can select a service that supports your compliance goals efficiently and reliably.
What are the key resources required for deploying your service and how long should it take, properly allocated?
Deploying our service is designed to be straightforward, with minimal resources and time required for setup. The timeline varies depending on the specific use case and the chosen implementation method.
Immediate Access to the Screening Portal: Our screening portal, including batch screening functionality, is ready to use right out of the box. Customers can access and start screening entities immediately without any complex setup or technical prerequisites. This makes it an excellent option for businesses seeking a fast and simple solution.
API Integration for Custom Workflows: For customers integrating our API into their systems, the setup process can vary based on the complexity of their requirements and the technical expertise of their team. The key steps involve:
Streamlining Data: Preparing and organizing data to ensure compatibility and effectiveness with the screening process.
Selecting Watchlists: Identifying the sanctions and PEP lists most relevant to the business's risk profile.
Testing and Fine-Tuning: Running initial tests to validate integration and optimize performance.
Fast Integration: With straightforward use cases and experienced teams, this process can typically be completed within a day or two. For more complex integrations, additional time may be required to address unique workflows or data challenges.
Training and Onboarding: While our platform is user-friendly, training your compliance team is an essential step to ensure they can effectively handle matches, resolve alerts, and fully utilize the system's features. We provide resources and support to guide teams through this process, further reducing the ramp-up time.
By offering flexible deployment options and comprehensive support, we ensure that businesses can implement our solution efficiently—whether they’re looking for a quick out-of-the-box solution or a tailored integration for their unique workflows.
What maintenance or other considerations should one plan for, post implementation?
Post-implementation, the key considerations are monitoring the system’s performance, ensuring your team is trained to handle any issues, and staying updated on regulatory changes. Regularly review your screening processes to ensure they are running smoothly and in compliance with the latest regulations.
This, of course, is an area where Yanez excels, which is why we have a natural partnership with them.
Are there any looming changes in sanctions screenings or features within your own offering that you’re excited about?
We’re excited about several recent and upcoming enhancements to our sanctions screening solutions that are designed to make compliance processes more efficient, accurate, and user-friendly.
Redesigned Screening Portal: We recently launched a fully redesigned Screening Portal that significantly enhances the user experience. This updated platform supports both single and batch screening functionalities, allowing users to perform manual checks and process batch screenings for thousands of records at once. The portal is built to streamline workflows, with detailed results presented in an intuitive and easily accessible format. Whether users need quick one-off checks or larger-scale screenings, the new portal is designed to handle both with ease, saving time and reducing operational complexity.
Continuous Monitoring: Currently in open beta, our Continuous Monitoring service represents a major step forward in automating compliance. This feature automatically and continuously monitors previously uploaded business partner data, and sends Real-Time alerts via different channels such as API, webhooks or email notifications. Continuous Monitoring is especially valuable for industries with stringent compliance requirements, offering both peace of mind and operational efficiency.
Further enhancements of our matching technology and tools for match resolution processes: We’re integrating the latest advancements in AI technology into our platform, with a focus on further optimizing our matching and helping compliance professionals in their match review/resolution process with Intelligent Suggestions (AI-driven recommendations to help users decide whether a match is likely a true positive or a false positive, aside from a simple confidence score) and Contextual Insights (Delivering detailed match data, such as cross-referenced watchlists, potential aliases, and risk indicators, in an intuitive format).