Compliance playbook
Transaction monitoring: a regulator-ready guide
A practical blueprint for monitoring programs: rules, tuning, triage, investigations, and documentation. Designed for teams who want fewer surprises in partner due diligence and audits.
Start with a documented program
Regulators and bank partners will ask for policy and evidence. Document your monitoring scope, segmentation approach, and escalation paths.
Build a rule catalog (then tune)
Begin with a small set of rules aligned to your risk model. Track rule versions, thresholds, and why each rule exists.
- Threshold and velocity rules (volume, frequency)
- Geography and counterparty risk rules
- Structuring patterns (many small transactions)
- Round-tripping and rapid movement of funds
Alert triage and investigations
Define who reviews alerts, what evidence is required, and what outcomes exist (clear, escalate, report). Ensure you can attach reviewer notes and preserve artifacts.
Connect monitoring with screening
Monitoring and screening reinforce each other. Use screening results (sanctions, PEP) to change monitoring thresholds by segment.
Evidence and retention
The fastest way to fail an audit is “we did it, but we cannot prove it.” Decide what to store and for how long: alert details, screenshots, exports, reviewer notes, approvals, and change logs.
If you are building your first monitoring system
Start with a small rule set and a strict change log. Stabilize alert volume and reviewer workload before expanding coverage.