Data, Onboarding and Screening Technology

The technology landscape, data quality, customer friction, digital onboarding and e-KYC, external data sources, sanctions lists, name, batch and payment screening.

5 minutes 5 Questions

In the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) framework, Data, Onboarding and Screening Technology refers to the systems and processes financial institutions use to collect, verify, and monitor customer information in order to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Data is th…

Concepts covered
Name Screening at OnboardingData Definitions, Taxonomy and AccessCustomer Experience and the Right Level of FrictionAFC Technology Across the Customer Life CycleDigital Onboarding and Electronic KYCBeneficial Ownership Registers and Corporate RegistriesDigital Identity, Biometrics and Liveness ChecksPayment Message Types: SWIFT, ISO 20022 and BlockchainAdverse Media as a KYC Data SourceBatch Screening, Fuzzy Matching and List ManagementGeolocation and Device Intelligence in OnboardingReal-Time Payment and Transaction ScreeningScreening Alert Tuning and False Positive ReductionData Quality, Integrity and LineageCredit Reference, Criminal Record and Identity ChecksSanctions Lists and Internal and External Watch Lists
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CAMS - Data, Onboarding and Screening Technology Example Questions

Test your knowledge of Data, Onboarding and Screening Technology

Question 1

A payment service provider's digital onboarding flow shows that an applicant passed document verification and a liveness check. The applicant declared a domestic address. Device intelligence shows that the session was routed through an anonymising proxy. The device's time zone and language settings point to a high-risk jurisdiction. The same device fingerprint was used for several other applications, under different names, during the past week. What should the KYC analyst do NEXT?

Correct Answer: Pause onboarding and review all applications linked to the device

Pausing onboarding and reviewing every application tied to the device is right because the shared fingerprint across different names, the proxy masking and the jurisdiction mismatch together point to possible synthetic identity or mule-network fraud, which must be investigated before any decision is made.
Approving on the strength of document and liveness checks ignores clear device-level red flags those checks cannot detect. Opening the account as high risk with later monitoring gives a possible fraudster access before the risk is understood. Declining and deny-listing the device jumps to a final outcome without investigating the linked applications or establishing the facts.
Key concept: layered digital identity verification and investigating device-linked red flags before onboarding.

Question 2

In remote digital onboarding that uses facial recognition, which of the following best describes the purpose of a liveness check?

Correct Answer: Confirming the selfie comes from a live person present at capture

A liveness check confirms that the selfie or video comes from a real, physically present person at the moment of capture. This defeats presentation attacks such as printed photos, replayed videos, masks and deepfakes.
Matching the selfie to the document photo is facial comparison, or biometric matching. It is a separate step that only works if liveness has already been established. Checking a document's security features is document authentication, not a test of the person. Comparing device location with the declared address is geolocation or IP risk screening, which is unrelated to biometric presence.
Key concept: liveness detection as anti-spoofing protection in remote biometric identity verification.

Question 3

During onboarding of a private company, a KYC analyst finds that the central beneficial ownership register names one individual as holding a 60% stake. The customer's ownership chart shows that same stake held through a trust whose settlor and beneficiaries are not named. What is the analyst's BEST next step?

Correct Answer: Obtain the trust deed to identify the settlor, trustees and beneficiaries

Obtaining the trust deed lets the analyst look through the trust and identify the settlor, trustees, beneficiaries and anyone else exercising effective control, who are all beneficial owners in their own right.
Accepting the register entry fails because registers are a starting point, not sole verification, and here the register conflicts with the customer's own chart. Reporting to the registrar may be required in some regimes, but it does not resolve who the beneficial owners actually are. Rating the company high risk and focusing enhanced due diligence on the named individual skips the unresolved trust layer.
Key concept: looking through trusts and resolving discrepancies in beneficial ownership information.

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