AML Watcher Cracks the Code of Arabic Name Matching in MENA

January 21, 2025 - MENA, UAE - BIG NEWS! AML Watcher is now expanding its AML Screening Suite across the MENA region with the new office, fully operational at Business Central Tower B, Internet City, Dubai.

This progress marks a major turning point in the company's global growth strategy and represents dedication to providing global emerging market economies with effective AML screening solutions.

Opening doors to diverse regions comes with a unique set of challenges, especially when it is crucial to implement risk risk-based approach in line with the region-specific risk appetite. If businesses are willing to prepare well, AML compliance can be a competitive benefit rather than a burden.

Expansion of AML screening tool to the MENA region involves careful consideration of two of the most crucial region-specific issues.

The first one being that the MENA region draws tourists, international workers, and investors from all over the world. This suggests that data should comply with international PEP standards, which include expanded coverage of sanctions regimes, criminal watchlists, negative media, and more.

The second one is glocalization (i.e., the intermixing of global and local influences shaping the political, social, and economic systems). This becomes rather challenging for name screening in AML compliance.

This suggests that data should be in compliance with international PEP standards, which include expanded coverage of sanctions regimes, criminal watchlists, negative media, and more.

An application layer that can accurately provide name-screening results while considering transliteration errors is necessary due to the diversity of dialects and naming conventions. This problem is more common in the MENA region.

Why? Because:

• A common name like "Mohammed"  might also be spelled as "Muhammad," "Mohammad," or even "Mehmet," depending on cultural or linguistic differences.
• Similarly, family names come first in some regions, and given names come second. So, "Mohammed Ali" in one list might appear as "Ali Mohammed" in another.
• Moreover, there's no universal standard for when names are converted from Arabic script to Latin script. The Arabic name "محمد" might show up as "Mohamed," "Muhamad," or "Mohd."

AML Watcher ensure accurate risk assessment by providing comprehensive data with 2.1 million+ PEP profiles, 215+ sanction regimes, 3500+ criminal watchlists, and 400+ risk categories for adverse media, enabling compliance with requirements.

The accuracy of screening is further improved by enabling fuzzy matching, phonetic analysis, biometric AML, transliteration pattern detection, and contextual data, particularly in the MENA region.

Just like in the good old days when solving string-matching puzzles felt like a mental maze, applying that complexity to name matching in AML compliance is perplexing where regulatory bodies and law enforcement maintain sanction and watchlist databases in Latin scripts while people have names in their native language scripts such as Arabic for MENA region natives.

There is more to this gap than just a spelling error. It expands into complex name-matching issues, especially when names from diverse languages, ethnicities, and scripts, mainly Arabic, become difficult to transliterate into other languages, thus increasing the occurrence of false negatives and false positives.

Did you know? Regional variations exist in how the name "Jamal" (or "Gamal") is pronounced. While it’s pronounced as "Jah-mal" in some places and "Gah-mal" in others, particularly in Arabic-speaking nations.

AML Watchers offer advanced features, including unique identifiers in search parameters and biometric AML (including facial profiles in the database), so no risk remains unattended.

Reducing false positives due to inaccurate name matching in MENA is also crucial because the region is also facing challenges in combating terrorism and terrorist financing, with a high prevalence of cases involving names that are common in Arab communities.

Accurate identification in such cases prevents inaccurate assessment, preventing de-risking for low-risk entities and evasion for high-risk entities.

Is your AML compliance at risk simply because your screening system doesn’t speak the language?

It's not just a theoretical question.

“The inability to accurately match names isn’t just an operational hurdle—it creates vulnerabilities in the financial system that can cause loss of revenue to financial institutions due to de-risking.”

Abeeha Khurshid, Brand Manager @ AML Watcher.

The good news? Technology is catching up!

AML Watcher ensures accurate matches by enriching screening with quality AML data, including matches for RCAs, AKAs, Aliases, etc. The system also provides precise name matching by focusing on matching subsets against names, thus minimizing false positives and negatives.

In an era where typologies for financial crimes are evolving, the tools we use to fight them must evolve, too.

About AML Watcher

AML Watcher is a global leader in anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance technology. With a suite of powerful solutions for sanctions, PEP,  watchlist screening and more, in line with global and jurisdiction-specific regulations.

AML Watcher serves financial institutions across Europe, North America, and beyond. The company’s innovative technologies empower businesses to meet compliance requirements, manage risks, and maintain the integrity of their financial networks.

For More Information

Karim Muhammad
Marketing Manager | AML Watcher
Email: [email protected]