Sanction Scanner is one of the few AML vendors explicitly addressing NGOs: a dedicated page, FATF Recommendation 8 messaging, the promise of screening donors, partners and beneficiaries. The promise is real — 3,000+ sanctions, PEP and watchlists, real time, risk scoring.
But between "accessing a screening engine" and "demonstrating to an AFD auditor that every project expense was committed to a screened third party", there is a world. This article sorts it out.
Sanction Scanner for NGOs: 3,000 lists, an API… and everything else left to build
Reading time: ~4 min
Table of contents
- What is Sanction Scanner?
- What the tool does well
- What remains on the NGO's plate
- Comparison with Abvius integrated screening
- The Abvius approach: screening inside the expenditure flow
- Mini FAQ
1. What is Sanction Scanner?
Sanction Scanner is an AML compliance vendor offering screening against more than 3,000 sanctions lists, PEPs and watchlists, with real-time checks, risk scoring and adverse media monitoring. It provides a web interface, an API with SDKs and a developer portal, and highlights customisable reports for compliance reporting. Its historical market: fintechs, payment institutions, banks — with a marketing extension towards NGOs and nonprofits.
2. What the tool does well
Coverage. 3,000+ lists is a broad consolidation: international sanctions, national lists, PEPs, adverse media. For a multi-country NGO, that depth reduces the risk of missing a local list.
Technical accessibility. Documented API, SDKs, batch: a technical team can plug screening into an existing process fairly quickly.
Reporting. Customisable reports help materialise screening activity — useful for internal reviews.
3. What remains on the NGO's plate
The process. Who decides a third party must be screened? When? Who reviews hits, within what deadline, with what evidence? Sanction Scanner provides the engine; the organisational machinery — what the auditor examines — remains yours to write and maintain.
The link to money. Screening that doesn't block payment is a formality. Without a custom-built integration with your financial system, nothing stops an advance from leaving towards a third party with a doubtful status.
Attachment to the project. Sanction Scanner reports live in Sanction Scanner. The project's audit file lives in your grant management. At every audit, you will export, sort, rename and file — manually.
4. Comparison with Abvius integrated screening
| Criterion | Sanction Scanner | Abvius integrated screening |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | AML platform + API | Service embedded in the humanitarian ERP |
| Coverage | 3,000+ lists, PEPs, adverse media | Donor-relevant lists (EU, UN, OFAC, OFSI, Treasury, World Bank) |
| Integration with financial flow | To be developed | Native: PO and payment blocking on unresolved hit |
| Audit evidence | Reports to export and file | Certificate automatically filed in the project's audit folder |
| Rescreening | Depending on configuration | Automatic on every list update |
| Target users | Fintechs, banks, NGOs (marketing) | NGOs and CSOs exclusively |
| Total cost | Licence + integration + process maintenance | Included in the platform |
5. The Abvius approach: screening inside the expenditure flow
Abvius starts from a project's real life: a field team creates a supplier, commits an expense, requests a payment. Screening inserts itself automatically into that flow — at third-party creation, before commitment, before disbursement — with no extra action. A hit opens a disposition workflow and blocks financial flows until resolution. The compliant evidence (lists queried, timestamp, decision, decision-maker) is filed in the funding project's audit folder. On audit day, everything is already in place.
6. Mini FAQ
Should donors really be screened, as AML marketing suggests?
For institutional grants, the contractual relationship mostly requires screening YOUR third parties. For private fundraising, a donation acceptance policy with enhanced vigilance on large or unusual gifts is good practice — proportionate to your risk profile.
Is beneficiary screening mandatory?
Not as a general rule in France since the Conseil d'État's February 2023 decision; some donors may however require it contractually for specific programmes. See our complete screening guide.
Is a 3,000-list engine "better" than targeted screening?
Not necessarily. Too many irrelevant lists generate noise (false positives) that exhausts teams. What matters: covering the lists your donors and legal framework require, with rigorous hit disposition.
Summary
Sanction Scanner offers a broad, technically accessible screening engine. But for an NGO the point is not owning an engine: it is that every expense links to a screened third party, with evidence filed in the audit folder. Abvius embeds that chain natively. To go further: AML-CTF compliance and digital audit trail. To discuss it, contact our teams via abvius.org.