Compliance terms in the payments glossary
The controls behind compliant payments — KYB and KYC, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, and the BSA framework US institutions operate under.
Know Your Business
The verification of a business customer — legal existence, beneficial owners, and sanctions screening — before providing financial services.
Bank Secrecy Act
The primary US anti-money-laundering law, requiring financial institutions to run AML programs, keep records, and report suspicious activity.
Money transmitter
A business that accepts and transmits funds on behalf of others — a regulated activity requiring state licenses and federal registration in the US.
Travel Rule
The requirement that identifying information about the sender and recipient travel with a funds transfer — extended by FATF to virtual-asset transfers.
AML transaction monitoring
The ongoing screening of customer transactions against risk rules and behavioral patterns to detect and report suspicious activity.
Sanctions screening
Checking customers, counterparties, and payments against government sanctions lists — such as OFAC’s SDN list — before funds are allowed to move.
Virtual asset service provider
FATF’s term for a business that exchanges, transfers, or safekeeps virtual assets for customers — regulated for AML like other financial institutions.
Money services business
FinCEN’s registration category for nonbank businesses that transmit or convert money — required to register federally and run a BSA/AML program.
BSA/AML program
The anti-money-laundering program the Bank Secrecy Act requires — internal controls, a designated officer, training, independent testing, and customer due diligence.
OFAC
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — the agency that administers sanctions and publishes the SDN list.
Enhanced due diligence
The deeper level of customer review applied to higher-risk relationships — more documentation, source-of-funds checks, and closer ongoing monitoring.
Politically exposed person
Someone entrusted with prominent public functions — senior officials, their close family and associates — treated as higher-risk in AML programs.
Know Your Customer
The verification of an individual customer’s identity — who they are, checked against watchlists — before providing financial services.
Suspicious activity report
The confidential report a financial institution files with FinCEN when it detects potentially suspicious transactions or activity.
Beneficial owner
The individual who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity — identified and verified during KYB under FinCEN’s due-diligence rules.