---
title: "Compliance terms in the payments glossary"
description: "The controls behind compliant payments: KYB and KYC, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, and the BSA framework US institutions operate under."
canonical: "https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/category/compliance"
---

# 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](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/know-your-business.md): The verification of a business customer — legal existence, beneficial owners, and sanctions screening — before providing financial services.
- [Bank Secrecy Act](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/bank-secrecy-act.md): The primary US anti-money-laundering law, requiring financial institutions to run AML programs, keep records, and report suspicious activity.
- [Money transmitter](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/money-transmitter.md): 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](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/travel-rule.md): 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](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/aml-transaction-monitoring.md): The ongoing screening of customer transactions against risk rules and behavioral patterns to detect and report suspicious activity.
- [Sanctions screening](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/sanctions-screening.md): 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](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/vasp.md): 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](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/money-services-business.md): 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](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/bsa-aml-program.md): The anti-money-laundering program the Bank Secrecy Act requires — internal controls, a designated officer, training, independent testing, and customer due diligence.
- [OFAC](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/ofac.md): The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — the agency that administers sanctions and publishes the SDN list.
- [Enhanced due diligence](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/enhanced-due-diligence.md): The deeper level of customer review applied to higher-risk relationships — more documentation, source-of-funds checks, and closer ongoing monitoring.
- [Politically exposed person](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/politically-exposed-person.md): Someone entrusted with prominent public functions — senior officials, their close family and associates — treated as higher-risk in AML programs.
- [Know Your Customer](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/know-your-customer.md): The verification of an individual customer’s identity — who they are, checked against watchlists — before providing financial services.
- [Suspicious activity report](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/suspicious-activity-report.md): The confidential report a financial institution files with FinCEN when it detects potentially suspicious transactions or activity.
- [Beneficial owner](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/beneficial-owner.md): The individual who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity — identified and verified during KYB under FinCEN’s due-diligence rules.

## More of the glossary

- [Assets terms in the payments glossary](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/category/assets.md): The instruments that move on stablecoin rails: what stablecoins are, how they are minted, redeemed, and backed, and how reserves are verified.
- [Accounts terms in the payments glossary](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/category/accounts.md): Account structures for holding business funds: demand deposit accounts, virtual and FBO accounts, and how pooled and per-customer structures differ.
- [Payment rails terms in the payments glossary](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/category/payment-rails.md): The networks that settle business payments (SWIFT, ACH, Fedwire, RTP, and stablecoin rails) and how their speed, hours, and finality compare.
- [Banking terms in the payments glossary](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/category/banking.md): How banks hold and move money behind the scenes: correspondent banking, routing numbers, and how deposit insurance passes through to customers.
- [Agentic payments terms in the payments glossary](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary/category/agentic-payments.md): How AI agents move money: spending limits, human-in-the-loop approvals, agent compliance, and the authorization layer behind agent-initiated payments.
- [Payments glossary | Direct answers to every term](https://infinite.net/learn/glossary.md): Every term in the payments glossary, grouped by category (stablecoins, accounts, compliance, payment rails, banking, and FX), each with a direct answer up top.