KYC · Geographical risk · LBC/FT

Country risk : VIGIL strengthens geographical risk analysis

A new section «Country Risk» is now available in VIGIL to facilitate the assessment, documentation, and monitoring of the risk level associated with the geographical location of business relationships.

Module

VIGIL KYC

Feature

Country Risk

Objective

Structured geographical assessment

Why integrate country risk into the KYC process?

The assessment of geographical risk is an important element of KYC analysis. A business relationship, a legal entity, or an individual involved with a structure may be exposed to jurisdictions that present increased risks in terms of AML/CFT, sanctions, corruption, taxation, or terrorism.

With the new section «Country Risk», VIGIL allows this dimension to be integrated directly into the KYC module, in order to support a more structured, more readable and more easily traceable analysis.

Automatic identification of sensitive geographical exposures

VIGIL automatically identifies whether a legal entity or a stakeholder linked to an organisation is associated with jurisdictions appearing on certain lists and benchmarks. This information is then available in the KYC file to facilitate analysis, documentation, and monitoring.

The lists and indices taken into account

The section «Country Risk» is based on several reference frameworks for qualifying geographical exposures using a structured approach.

Reference
Usefulness in geographical risk analysis
EU High-Risk Third Countries
Identification of third countries with strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes.
EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
Taking into account non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes in the file analysis.
FATF Blacklist
Identification of high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call to action.
FATF Grey List
Monitoring of jurisdictions under enhanced supervision in the context of FATF work.
Global Terrorism Index
Assessment of a jurisdiction's exposure to the risk of terrorism.
Corruption Perceptions Index
Perceived level of corruption in the public sector of a jurisdiction.
Basel AML Index
Assessment of money laundering and financial crime risk associated with jurisdictions.

An analysis integrated into the KYC file

The functionality «Country Risk» is made available as part of the full KYC module. It allows geographic analysis to be associated with the relevant file, rather than being treated as an isolated or external verification of the process.

This provides teams with more directly usable information to qualify the level of risk, document their review, and keep a record of the elements taken into account.

In VIGIL KYC, this new section allows you to:

  • detect exposures to sensitive jurisdictions; ;
  • centralise the elements useful for geographical risk analysis ;
  • facilitate the qualification of the country risk level ;
  • strengthen the traceability of analyses carried out; ;
  • Support KYC file reporting and monitoring.

Points of attention for professionals

The presence of a jurisdiction on a list or in a benchmark should not be interpreted automatically or in isolation. It must be integrated into a comprehensive, risk-based analysis, taking into account the nature of the business relationship, the relevant structure, the identified stakeholders, and other available risk factors.

VIGIL provides a structured framework to support this analysis, while leaving professionals responsible for qualifying situations, documenting decisions and determining appropriate measures according to their internal procedures.

VIGIL KYC

A more structured approach to geographic risk

By integrating country risk directly into the KYC module, VIGIL helps organisations to better centralise information, improve the reliability of case monitoring and strengthen the traceability of their analyses.

This new section aligns with VIGIL's overall strategy: to structure KYC, Compliance/RC, and Risk frameworks within a business platform, featuring clear reporting and usable documentation.

A question about VIGIL KYC?

Our team remains available to present the section «Country Risk» and show you how it can be integrated into your existing KYC processes.

Book a VIGIL demo