Sanctions screening for Xero contacts
Connect Xero and every active contact is checked against eight sanctions sources, including the UK Sanctions List. New and edited contacts are checked within minutes, bills and invoices trigger a recheck once the lists change, and each result lands in the contact's History and notes.
Opening to QuickBooks Online and Xero users at the same time. The first 50 customers get founder pricing.
Northwind Trading Ltd
- OFAC SDN
- No match
- UK Sanctions List
- Review0.88 name similarity
- EU Consolidated
- No match
- UN Security Council
- No match
When a name is checked
- Every active contact when you connect, not only suppliers and customers
- A contact within minutes of being added or edited
- The contact on a bill, invoice or credit note, if the lists have changed since its last check
- Every active contact again each month
- Any contact, any time you press Screen now
Against these lists
Why UK businesses screen against the UK Sanctions List
For breaches since June 2022, OFSI can impose a civil penalty for a UK financial sanctions breach without proving the business knew, or suspected, that it was dealing with a designated person.
A dated record of every check, and of how each possible match was resolved, is what you show OFSI, your bank or your AML supervisor when they ask.
How it works with Xero
01
Connect Xero
Sign up with Xero and approve access. Your trial starts straight away, with no card needed.
02
Names are checked as things change
Every active vendor and customer is screened when you connect. After that, a contact is checked again when it is edited, when it turns up on a bill or invoice after a list update, and in a full rescreen every month.
03
Possible matches come to you
You get an email and the contact gets a note. Open the review, see why it scored, then clear it with a reason or confirm it. Each decision goes on a dated certificate.
What you see in Xero
The result goes where you already work. Sanctions Clear adds to the contact record and never edits or deletes what is there.
An entry in History and notes
Each first check and each change of status is added to the contact's History and notes, which Xero keeps as a log. A cleared match names who cleared it, when and why.
The certificate in the contact's files
From the Growth plan up, the certificate PDF is attached to the contact. A new certificate replaces the old file, so attachments don't pile up.
A contact group for anything to review
Possible matches go into a Sanctions Clear review contact group, so you can filter for them in Xero. Clearing the match takes the contact out of the group.
What's included
Lists straight from the source
Eight official sources, downloaded from the governments that publish them. OFAC, UK, EU and UN are fetched every 6 hours, the rest daily. Every file is archived, and each certificate names the version it was checked against.
Matching built for messy names
Catches typos, transliterated names, swapped word order and legal forms such as Ltd, LLC or GmbH. Country, date of birth and registration numbers help tell a real match from a namesake.
Every score explained
A possible match shows why it scored as it did: how close the name is, which alias it hit, and whether the country and identifiers agree or conflict.
A plain-English second opinion
An AI summary explains each possible match and suggests whether it looks like a false positive. It is labelled as AI and never clears anything. A person always makes the call.
Alerts only when there is a match
You get an email when a possible match turns up and again if one is confirmed. Clean results stay quiet and show on the dashboard.
Certificates anyone can verify
Each certificate has a QR code and a link to sanctionsclear.com/verify, where a bank or auditor can confirm it is genuine and see whether a newer one has replaced it.
Keeps as little as it can
For a clean contact we keep its ID and a one-way fingerprint, not its name. Names are stored only for possible matches. Invoices, amounts and bank details are never stored.
Tests itself every 6 hours
Known sanctioned names, misspelled on purpose, are screened after every list update and every 6 hours. If one stops matching, screening is marked degraded and we are alerted straight away.
Sanctions Clear for Xero: questions
Why screen every contact, not just suppliers?
Xero only marks a contact as a supplier or customer once a bill or invoice exists. Screening every active contact catches a new vendor before the first bill is entered.
When will the Xero version be available?
At the same time as QuickBooks Online. Waitlist members hear first. Founder pricing covers the first 50 customers across both platforms.
Does Sanctions Clear change anything in my books?
It adds to them and never edits them. It reads your contacts, reads bills and invoices only to see which contact they belong to, and adds a note to the contact (plus the certificate PDF from the Growth plan up). It never edits or deletes your records, notes or transactions, and it adds no custom fields. You can switch the notes off.
What happens when a name looks like a match?
You get an email and the contact gets a note. In Sanctions Clear you see the list entry it resembles, why it scored and a plain-English summary. You clear it with a reason or confirm it. Both decisions record who made them and when, and a confirmed match cannot be deleted.
How quickly is a newly sanctioned vendor caught?
OFAC, UK, EU and UN lists are fetched every 6 hours and the others daily. A contact is checked against the new version the next time it is edited or appears on a bill or invoice, and at the monthly rescreen at the latest, so a vendor with no activity waits for that monthly run. Sanctions Clear alerts you; it cannot stop a payment at your bank.
What does Sanctions Clear store about my contacts?
For a contact with no match: its ID in your accounting file, a one-way fingerprint and the date it was checked. Names and details are kept only for possible matches, because you need them to review. We never store invoices, amounts or bank details. Screening records and certificate details are kept for 10 years, the period OFAC can bring a case.
Does it screen politically exposed persons (PEPs)?
Not at launch. Sanctions Clear screens sanctions and export lists. PEP screening is planned as a paid add-on.
Is this legal advice?
No. Sanctions Clear screens names and keeps records of the checks. What to do about a confirmed match is a decision for you and, where needed, your lawyer.
Get Sanctions Clear for Xero
Opening to QuickBooks Online and Xero users at the same time. The first 50 customers get founder pricing.