SWIFT's financial crime compliance service, Sanctions Screening, has surpassed the 230-customer milestone across 88 countries.

According to SWIFT it counts African countries like Angola, Ghana and Sierra Leone as some of the customers that have adopted its sanctions screening service.

Sanctions Screening is a shared service that screens financial transactions against selected lists, providing small and medium-sized institutions with a reliable, cost-effective means of testing their compliance with sanctions regulations.

And on the continent there are almost 60 customers including four central banks using SWIFT's Sanctions Screening to address concerns about financial crime.

Nicolas Stuckens, head of sanctions compliance services at SWIFT said, “Sanctions Screening demonstrates the strong demand for SWIFT’s financial crime compliance solutions that help customers increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their compliance activities while reducing cost and risk.”

“Its success has paved the way for additional compliance services that leverage SWIFT’s core strength – community-driven solutions built on global standards and operational excellence,”Stuckens added.

SWIFT, a member-owned cooperative that provides technology to connect more than 10,000 financial institutions and corporations, says it launched the screening service two years ago.

“Sanctions compliance is expensive and complex, and the penalties for non-compliance can be very severe,” says Hugo Smit, head of Africa South at SWIFT.

“SWIFT’s Sanctions Screening is easy to implement and cost-effective; it requires no hardware or software and no operational maintenance of multiple lists that change regularly and provide our customers with a peace-of-mind that their compliance solution meet international industry standards. SWIFT is committed to developing such solutions that address industry challenges,” Smit concluded.