NOTO and Equifax UK have partnered to launch Automated Watchlist Monitoring, a real-time anti-money laundering screening solution for the UK market.
The offering is built on NOTO 360™, NOTO's screening engine, and is designed to help Equifax clients manage compliance obligations across the customer lifecycle amid tightening UK regulatory requirements.
The partnership responds to a shifting UK regulatory and geopolitical environment. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set out changes to the treatment of domestic politically exposed persons (PEPs) in its Finalised Guidance FG25/3, published in July 2025, requiring firms to recalibrate their approach to this category. This has coincided with strengthened expectations from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) regarding sanctions screening for 2026 and beyond. Regulators, including the FCA and the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), have increased expectations around continuous watchlist screening. In addition, the scope and complexity of global watchlists has also grown in recent years, adding pressure on firms to screen in real time, including at the transaction level.
AWM is intended for high-throughput environments and provides watchlist screening for individuals and entities with response times under 100 milliseconds, without limits on transaction volume. The underlying technology applies a matching algorithm to screen against sanctions lists, PEP registers, and adverse media sources, and can monitor changes to a customer's risk profile on an ongoing basis.
The solution includes configurable case management and thresholds by category, such as sanctions, PEPs, and adverse media, alongside a policy editor. It covers the customer journey from account opening through to ongoing monitoring, alerting, and transaction screening. AWM also maintains an audit trail of screenings and matches to support due diligence and transparency requirements. The service is integrated via a REST API and is also available in batch, drawing on Equifax's proprietary data sources.
Industry context
Ivan Stefanov, CEO and co-founder of NOTO, said the Equifax partnership follows the company's recognition by Chartis as a 'market disruptor', and that the collaboration is intended to help Equifax clients streamline their compliance operations.
Matt Jones, VP of Partnerships and European Growth at Equifax, said organisations can face difficulties with traditional batch remediation processes, including missed changes in customer risk profiles and higher operational costs. He described the AWM launch as a milestone for Equifax UK's AML roadmap, adding that the partnership is intended to broaden the AML and fraud technology available to Equifax customers, with a specific focus on watchlist screening.
Furthermore, the launch adds to a wider trend among compliance technology providers toward continuous, real-time screening rather than periodic batch processing, reflecting regulatory expectations that firms monitor risk on an ongoing basis throughout the customer relationship.
