Watchlist Monitoring

What is watchlist monitoring?

Watchlist monitoring automatically re-screens your saved profiles against sanctions lists on a recurring schedule. This ensures you're immediately notified if a previously-clean entity is added to a restricted party list or if list updates create new matches.

Instead of manually re-screening customers, vendors, or partners every time sanctions lists update, watchlist monitoring does this automatically and alerts you only when action is needed.

Why use watchlist monitoring?

Sanctions lists change frequently, and manual re-screening is impractical:

• Continuous compliance — Maintain compliance without manual effort as lists update
• Catch new matches — Be alerted immediately if a customer or partner is newly sanctioned
• Reduce workload — Eliminate the need to manually re-screen hundreds or thousands of entities
• Audit trail — Demonstrate ongoing due diligence with automated monitoring records
• Risk mitigation — Avoid penalties from continuing business with newly-sanctioned parties

How monitoring works

Watchlist monitoring operates in the background:

1. Create a monitor — Add entities (customers, vendors, partners) to a watchlist monitor
2. Automatic re-screening — TradeLasso re-screens all entities on your schedule (daily or real-time)
3. Change detection — The system compares new results to previous screenings
4. Alert on matches — If a new match is found, you receive an immediate notification
5. Review and action — Review the match and take appropriate action (block, investigate, etc.)

Creating a watchlist monitor

To create a new monitor, go to Dashboard → Watchlist Monitoring:

1. Click "Create Monitor"
2. Give your monitor a descriptive name (e.g., "Active Customers", "Key Suppliers", "High-Risk Partners")
3. Choose your monitoring frequency:
   • Daily — Re-screen once per day (Advanced plans)
   • Real-time — Re-screen within minutes of list updates (Complete plans)
4. Add entities to the monitor (see below)
5. Configure notification preferences
6. Click "Create" to activate monitoring

Adding entities to a monitor

You can add entities to a monitor in several ways:

From saved profiles

• Go to Saved Profiles
• Select the profiles you want to monitor
• Click "Add to Monitor" and choose your monitor

From screening results

• After running a screening that returns no matches
• Click "Add to Watchlist" on the results page
• Choose an existing monitor or create a new one

From batch screening

• After completing a batch screening job
• Filter to show only "No Match" results
• Select entities to monitor
• Click "Add to Watchlist" and choose your monitor

Manual entry

• Open your monitor and click "Add Entity"
• Enter entity details (name, address, country)
• Click "Add" to include in monitoring

Managing monitors

View and manage all your monitors in Dashboard → Watchlist Monitoring:

Monitor dashboard

• Status overview — See which monitors are active, paused, or have alerts
• Entity count — View how many entities are in each monitor
• Last scan — See when each monitor last ran
• Alert count — View unresolved alerts per monitor

Monitor actions

• View entities — See all entities in a monitor with their current status
• Add/remove entities — Manage which entities are monitored
• Pause/resume — Temporarily stop monitoring without deleting entities
• Edit settings — Change name, frequency, or notification preferences
• Delete monitor — Remove the monitor and stop all re-screening

Monitoring alerts

When a new match is detected, you'll receive an alert via:

• Email notification — Immediate email with match details
• In-app notification — Alert in your Notifications panel
• Webhook — Push alert to your systems (if configured)

Alert details

Each monitoring alert includes:

• Entity name and details
• Monitor name
• Match information (list, match score, entity details)
• Previous screening result (for comparison)
• Date of detection
• Recommended actions

Responding to alerts

When you receive a monitoring alert:

1. Review the match — Click through to see full match details
2. Investigate — Determine if it's a true match or false positive
3. Take action — Block transactions, freeze accounts, or escalate to compliance team
4. Document decision — Add notes to the entity's profile
5. Mark as resolved — Clear the alert once action is taken

Monitoring limits by plan

Best practices

• Organize by risk — Create separate monitors for high-risk vs. low-risk entities
• Use descriptive names — Name monitors by business function (e.g., "Tier-1 Suppliers", "EMEA Customers")
• Set up webhooks — Automatically push alerts to your CRM or compliance system
• Review regularly — Check monitor status weekly to ensure all are running properly
• Document responses — Keep records of how you handled each alert for audit purposes
• Clean up inactive entities — Remove entities you no longer do business with
• Combine with alerts — Use Regulatory Alerts to stay informed about list changes

Monitoring vs. manual re-screening

Integration with other features

Watchlist monitoring works seamlessly with:

• Regulatory Alerts — Monitors automatically re-screen when list updates are detected
• Webhooks — Push monitoring alerts to your systems in real-time
• API — Manage monitors and retrieve alert data programmatically
• Saved Profiles — Easily add saved profiles to monitors
• Compliance Certificates — Generate certificates for monitored entities with no matches

Related documentation

• Regulatory Update Alerts — Stay informed about list changes
• Saved Profiles — Managing saved entities
• Webhooks & Integrations — Push alerts to your systems
• Plan Limits & Usage — View your monitoring limits