How Does MANTL Manage OFAC Screening?
A modern account-opening platform like MANTL helps banks operationalize OFAC and sanctions controls by wiring digital applications into your existing BSA/AML stack, triggering real-time list checks, and preserving a complete audit trail—without slowing down the customer experience.
In practice, banks use MANTL to orchestrate OFAC screening by capturing applicant data once (person, business, beneficial owners), passing it to sanctions providers or internal BSA/AML systems via API, and then returning decisions back into the account-opening workflow. The bank controls which lists to screen (OFAC SDN, 314(a), internal watchlists), matching thresholds, and escalation paths; MANTL ensures every application step is timestamped, logged, and reportable for exams and audits while keeping digital onboarding fast and mobile-friendly.
What Does OFAC Screening Look Like in MANTL?
How OFAC Screening is Orchestrated in a MANTL-Led Journey
Think of MANTL as the orchestration layer: it collects data from customers, calls your sanctions engines, and controls what happens next—all while keeping onboarding fast enough that marketing and product teams can still hit digital growth targets.
Signal → Capture → Screen → Decide → Document → Monitor
- Signal: A consumer or business starts an account application from a marketing campaign, website, or branch-assisted flow.
- Capture: MANTL collects required KYC data (identity, address, tax IDs, ownership, purpose of account) using short, guided forms that meet policy and regulatory requirements.
- Screen: The platform sends customer and, when applicable, beneficial owner details to OFAC and sanctions screening services using secure APIs, including any internal watchlists defined by the bank.
- Decide: Screening responses are evaluated against institution-defined rules: many applicants pass automatically, potential matches are queued for manual review, and confirmed matches are declined and documented.
- Document: Every request, response, and decision (including overrides and notes) is written to an audit trail, with references that can be surfaced during internal audits or regulatory exams.
- Monitor: For ongoing relationships, periodic rescreening and list updates occur at the sanctions-provider level; MANTL ensures data stays synchronized so the right customer records are in scope.
Sanctions and OFAC Screening Capability Matrix
| Capability | From (Ad Hoc) | To (Operationalized with MANTL) | Owner | Primary KPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screening Coverage | Manual list checks, inconsistent timing, limited documentation. | Automated OFAC and sanctions screening for every in-scope applicant and owner, triggered at the right step in the workflow. | BSA/AML | % of in-scope applications screened, exam findings. |
| Data Quality | Free-text inputs, missing fields, duplicate parties. | Structured identity capture with validation, standardized fields for individuals and entities, clear mapping to screening systems. | Digital Banking / Ops | Screening match quality, rework rate. |
| Decisioning & Case Management | Email-based escalations and ad hoc approvals. | Defined rules for auto-clear vs. review, queues for investigators, and clear documentation of final decisions. | BSA/AML | False-positive rate, average investigation time. |
| Integration & Automation | Isolated tools with manual data entry. | API-driven connections between MANTL, core, CRM, and sanctions providers, with minimal swivel-chair work. | IT / Integration | Touch time per application, integration uptime. |
| Governance & Audit Trail | Scattered logs, difficult to reconstruct decisions. | Centralized, exportable histories of every screening event, decision, and override, aligned to policy. | Compliance | Audit issues, exam remediation effort. |
| Customer Experience | Slow, opaque decisions that frustrate applicants. | Real-time or near-real-time decisions where possible, with clear status messaging and minimal friction for trusted customers. | Product / CX | Application completion rate, NPS/CSAT. |
Client Snapshot: Sanctions Controls Without Sacrificing Digital Growth
A mid-sized bank used MANTL to standardize OFAC screening across consumer and business accounts. By integrating the platform with its existing sanctions provider and case-management tools, the bank reduced manual review time, increased completion rates, and improved its exam readiness—all while maintaining a fast, marketing-friendly digital journey.
When OFAC screening is orchestrated inside your digital onboarding flow, you can honor your BSA/AML obligations, give compliance the control it needs, and still support aggressive growth goals from marketing and product.
Frequently Asked Questions about MANTL and OFAC Screening
Connect Digital Growth with Strong OFAC Controls
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