Country Code Validation and Prohibited Lists

Braid's Country Code Validation feature ensures that all customers and counterparties are verified against internationally recognized standards and a custom prohibited country list. This functionality is critical for ensuring regulatory compliance and preventing transactions involving high-risk or sanctioned entities.

Key Capabilities

Country Code Validation

• Ensures that all country codes provided are mandatory and adhere to the ISO 3166 2-letter standard.
• Rejects requests with invalid or missing country codes.

Prohibited Country Handling

• Compares provided country codes against a maintained list of prohibited countries.
• Automatically assigns a BLOCKED status to customers or counterparties from prohibited countries.

Real-Time Re-Validation

• Conducts a compliance check each time a customer or counterparty record is updated.
• Enforces BLOCKED status if the updated country code matches the prohibited list.

Alert Management

• Generates alerts for bank review when an entity is BLOCKED due to prohibited status.
• Requires explicit action by a bank admin to unblock entities for exceptional cases, ensuring full control and oversight.

Customizable Prohibited Country List

• Allows the prohibited country list to be managed via the Braid API.
• Empowers banks to adjust compliance rules to meet evolving regulatory requirements.

Country Code Requirements

• Mandatory Field: Country codes must be provided for all customers and counterparties.
  • Missing codes will cause the request to be rejected.
• Standardized Format: Country codes must comply with the ISO 3166 2-letter format.
  • Invalid codes will also cause the request to be rejected.

Prohibited Country List Validation

• Initial Validation: When creating a customer or counterparty, Braid checks the country code against the prohibited country list.

  • If a match is found, the entity will be assigned BLOCKED status.
  • No transactions will be allowed for entities in this status.

• Ongoing Re-Validation:

  • Whenever a customer or counterparty is updated, the new country code is re-checked.
  • If the new code matches the prohibited list, the entity will be BLOCKED immediately.

Alerts for Blocked Entities

• Alert Generation: An alert is created when an entity is BLOCKED for being a Prohibited Entity.
• Manual Review Process: Compliance officers or bank admins must review the alert.
  • Important: Approving the alert does not unblock the entity.
  • To allow an exception, a bank admin must explicitly unblock the entity from the customer or counterparty record page.

Customizing the Prohibited Country List

• The current prohibited country list can be adjusted using the Braid API.
  • Add or remove countries to adapt to changing regulatory requirements.
  • Ensure updates are reviewed and approved in line with the bank’s compliance policies.

Prohibited Country List (Current as of November 20, 2024)