Compliance Intake and Sanctions Screening
How a fiduciary compliance team automated customer due diligence in Zoho, with sanctions screening, bank statement analysis, and approval-triggered document filing.
Client details generalized to protect confidentiality.
Compliance teams running customer due diligence manually, where screening and document review are separate steps performed at different times.
The Challenge
Due diligence ran as a sequence of manual steps at different times by different people. Intake information came in on a form, sanctions screening happened separately in another tool, bank statements were reviewed by eye, and approval was communicated by email. Nothing tied the steps to one record, so demonstrating that a specific client had been screened before approval required assembling evidence from several places.
The Solution
Structured Due Diligence Intake
Intake runs through a form that captures the information screening requires, validated at submission.
- Zoho Forms intake with conditional sections
- Required fields enforced by entity type
- Submission creates the case record
- Document uploads captured at intake
Sanctions Screening Integration
Screening runs against the submitted details automatically and the result attaches to the case rather than living in another tool.
- Screening API called on submission
- Result and match detail stored on the case
- Potential matches routed for review
- Screening timestamp recorded
Bank Statement Analysis
Submitted statements are processed to surface the figures the reviewer needs instead of being read line by line.
- Statement parsing on upload
- Summary figures extracted
- Anomaly flags for reviewer attention
- Original statement retained
Approval-Triggered Filing
Approval files the complete case package to WorkDrive, so the evidence trail is assembled by the process rather than afterward.
- Approval step on the case record
- Package filed on approval
- Folder per client and review date
- Locked fields after approval
Apps in This Solution
Zoho Forms
Custom API Integration
Zoho WorkDrive
Under the Hood Technical detail
- Case as the Unit
- Everything attaches to a single case record: intake data, screening result, statement analysis, and approval decision. The reason is evidentiary rather than convenience, since the question asked in an audit is what was known at the moment of approval.
- Screening Timing
- Screening fires on submission rather than at review, so the result is present before a human looks at the case. Screening after review inverts the order the process is supposed to demonstrate.
- Match Handling
- Potential matches route to review rather than blocking or clearing automatically. Sanctions screening produces false positives at a rate that makes automatic decisions inappropriate in either direction.
- Immutability After Approval
- Fields lock on approval and any change requires a new review record. An editable approved case cannot serve as evidence of what was approved.
- Notable Constraint
- Statement parsing accuracy varies with statement format. Extracted figures are presented as reviewer aids alongside the original document rather than as authoritative values, and the original is always retained.
The Results
- Screening happens before review rather than as a separate later step.
- The evidence package is assembled by the process, not reconstructed for audits.
- Approved cases are locked, so the record reflects what was actually approved.
Assembling Compliance Evidence by Hand?
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