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Dow Jones Screening

What is the Dow Jones Watchlist? 

The Dow Jones Watchlist is an international database that houses extensive profiles on individuals and businesses, in order to aid AML compliance efforts. This global database is designed to simplify the process of assessing risk within your client base, by making relevant background information quick and easy to access. 

What makes the Dow Jones Watchlist unique?

Made up of over 1,100 databases worldwide, the Dow Jones Watchlist feed is an extremely comprehensive resource, so you can be sure no stone goes unturned when it comes to screening potential customers for risk factors.

Despite the sheer volume of information that the Dow Jones Watchlist contains, the database is updated every day without fail, to ensure that the details provided are as accurate as possible.

Curated with expert editorial skills and supported by powerful news and research resources, the Dow Jones Watchlist is a clear frontrunner within the industry. Here are just a few of the additional benefits it has to offer: 

  • Provides exhaustive, accurate and up-to-date profiles on both individuals and entities, all over the world.

  • Includes additional global coverage of individuals in other high-risk groups, such as RCAs (the relatives and close associates of PEPs).  

  • Sets the industry standard for identifying politically exposed persons, in line with the definition approved by regulators. 

  • Features a clever categorisation system that immediately indicates the level of risk & compliance posed by a customer or client.

Why do you need to screen the Dow Jones Watchlist for AML purposes? 

To comply with AML regulations, any UK business providing regulated services (including accountants, solicitors, law firms and estate agents) must carry out a range of different AML checks . These vary from initial Know Your Customer checks, which simply verify identity, right through to sanctions screening and ongoing monitoring, but all of these checks are designed to minimise the chance of going into business with an individual or entity that poses a risk to your firm.

When performed properly, AML checks should extinguish the possibility of onboarding a customer with a history of sanctions, or any previous association with financial crime.

Using the Dow Jones Watchlist to carry out these checks is a foolproof way of screening clients. You’ll have all the information you need to avoid compromising your firm’s AML compliance, or breaching regulation – so your business is protected from incurring penalties like steep monetary fines, reputational damage or even jail time.

Does SmartSearch check the Dow Jones Watchlist? 

SmartSearch is an all-in-one AML compliance solution. Our versatile platform incorporates every variation of AML check necessary in one convenient place, and to make these checks as thorough and informed as possible, we use the Dow Jones Watchlist.  

Performing these screenings manually is both time-consuming and inefficient; that’s where SmartSearch comes in. With this database at our disposal, as well as our intelligent automated software – we can carry out a full AML check for either an individual or a business, in a matter of seconds.

We choose Dow Jones screening, because armed with access to this watchlist, we can help you to:

  • Perform AML checks quickly and accurately, without the inevitable margin of error that results from manual screening.  

  • Diminish the AML risk posed by your bank of clients, as every individual or entity will have been subject to rigorous checks beforehand.

  • Reduce false positives. We automatically carry out enhanced due diligence on any clients that match with PEP, SIP or RCA lists, to confirm their status.


However, we don’t just check the risk status of your customer at the time of the initial AML screening. Using data from the Dow Jones Watchlist, the SmartSearch monitoring dashboard will check your clients’ status every day. This monitoring service immediately alerts you to any changes, and notifies you if any further action is required.

Simply put, the Dow Jones Watchlist enables us to be one of the most efficient and meticulous AML compliance solutions on the market. It gives us the power and coverage to carry out AML checks in the UK, Europe and the wider world, for both businesses and individuals.