GLEIF LEI & Sanctions Screener (OFAC/EU/UN/UK)

Screen any company or legal entity against four official government sanctions lists (US OFAC, EU Consolidated, UN Consolidated, UK FCDO) and enrich the result with verified LEI data from GLEIF — the global legal entity identifier registry. Built for KYB, AML, trade-compliance, and counterparty-risk workflows.

What is this Actor?

GLEIF LEI & Sanctions Screener resolves a company name or LEI code via the GLEIF API to get verified legal name, jurisdiction, registration status, and parent/ultimate-parent LEI, then cross-checks those names against:

• OFAC SDN (US Treasury Specially Designated Nationals)
• EU Consolidated List (all EU sanctions regimes)
• UN Consolidated List (UN Security Council resolutions)
• UK FCDO Sanctions List (post-Brexit unified list)

All four lists are official government-published, openly licensed data with no login or paywall required.

Use cases

• KYB / onboarding: flag sanctioned counterparties before you engage them
• AML batch screening: run your entire customer book against all four lists in one call
• Trade-compliance checks: verify suppliers, distributors, and buyers against US + UK + EU + UN lists simultaneously
• M&A / due diligence: check acquisition targets and their parent chains
• Automated monitoring: schedule recurring runs for continuous watchlist monitoring

What data is returned?

Field	Description
lei	20-char ISO 17442 LEI code
legalName	Verified legal name from GLEIF
jurisdiction	Country/region of registration
entityStatus	GLEIF entity status (ACTIVE, INACTIVE, …)
leiStatus	LEI registration status (ISSUED, LAPSED, …)
registeredAddress	Full registered address
parentLei	Direct parent LEI (if available)
ultimateParentLei	Ultimate parent LEI (if available)
sanctionsHit	true if any list match found
hitCount	Total number of name matches
hitList	Which lists triggered (e.g. ["OFAC","EU"])
hits	Per-hit detail: list, matched name, similarity score
checkedLists	All lists that were checked
gleifStatus	found / not_found / skipped

How to use

Input

Provide one or more of these inputs:

{
  "entities": [
    {"name": "Gazprom", "country": "RU"},
    {"lei": "HWUPKR0MPOU8FGXBT394"}
  ],
  "sanctionsLists": ["OFAC", "EU", "UN", "UK"],
  "fuzzyThreshold": 0.7,
  "gleifEnrich": true
}

• entities: array of {name, lei, country} objects or plain strings. LEI codes (20-char alphanumeric) are detected automatically.
• leis: flat array of LEI codes (alternative to entities)
• names: flat array of company names (alternative to entities)
• sanctionsLists: choose any subset of ["OFAC","EU","UN","UK"] (default: all four)
• fuzzyThreshold: 0.0–1.0 trigram similarity cutoff (default 0.7 — a good balance; lower = more recall, higher = fewer false positives)
• gleifEnrich: set false to skip GLEIF lookup and screen only by input name (faster, lower cost)
• maxTotalChargeUsd: hard USD cap — the actor stops gracefully when the budget is reached

Output example

{
  "inputName": "Gazprom",
  "lei": "2534001DBBFAD6QDFA72",
  "legalName": "Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom",
  "jurisdiction": "RU",
  "entityStatus": "ACTIVE",
  "leiStatus": "ISSUED",
  "registeredAddress": "Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation",
  "sanctionsHit": true,
  "hitCount": 3,
  "hitList": ["OFAC", "EU"],
  "hits": [
    {"list": "OFAC", "matchedName": "GAZPROM", "score": 0.91},
    {"list": "EU", "matchedName": "Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom", "score": 0.94}
  ],
  "checkedLists": ["OFAC", "EU", "UN", "UK"],
  "gleifStatus": "found",
  "timestamp": "2026-07-09T10:00:00.000Z"
}

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event billing — you only pay for what runs:

Event	Price	When charged
actor-start	$0.01	Once per run
entity-screened	$0.05	Per entity (with GLEIF enrichment, multi-list check)

Example cost math:

• 10 entities, all 4 lists, GLEIF on: $0.01 + 10 × $0.05 = $0.51
• 100 entities, GLEIF off: $0.01 + 100 × $0.05 = $5.01
• Platform compute for a 100-entity run: 0.01–0.02 compute units ($0.001–0.002) — well under 30% of event revenue

Set maxTotalChargeUsd to cap spend for large batches.

Limitations

• Name matching is fuzzy, not authoritative. The trigram similarity algorithm catches common transliteration variants and abbreviations but is not a certified sanctions-screening system. High-stakes compliance decisions must be reviewed by a compliance officer.
• GLEIF name matching: GLEIF's API search uses exact/prefix matching; very short or non-Latin names may not resolve. Supply the LEI directly for guaranteed lookup.
• Sanctions list freshness: lists are fetched live on each run. OFAC/EU/UN/UK update on varying schedules (OFAC typically daily). For critical workflows, schedule frequent runs.
• No OpenSanctions: this Actor intentionally omits OpenSanctions — its commercial-use terms require a paid license. Use the official government sources directly (included here) for free commercial use.
• UK list structure: the UK FCDO XML schema changed in January 2026 (OFSI list retired). This Actor uses the current FCDO consolidated XML at gov.uk.
• Personal data in lists: sanctions lists contain individual names and identifiers. Your use of this data must have a valid legal basis (AML/KYB compliance is a recognized lawful purpose). Do not use output to build personal profiles unrelated to compliance screening.

Integrations

• API: run via Apify REST API — POST to /acts/gp005~gleif-sanctions-screener/runs
• Scheduling: set up daily/weekly runs in Apify Console for continuous monitoring
• Webhooks: trigger downstream alerts on SUCCEEDED runs with hits
• Make / n8n: connect via Apify integrations to your existing KYB or CRM workflow
• MCP: load via the Apify MCP server for LLM-driven compliance workflows

Other Actors in the FORGE fleet

• EDGAR Company Filings & XBRL Fundamentals Extractor — SEC financial data
• Email Deliverability & Domain Posture Auditor — MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks
• SSL/TLS Certificate Expiry Monitor — bulk certificate monitoring

FAQ

Is this a certified AML/sanctions screening system?

No. This Actor uses fuzzy name matching against official government XML feeds as a first-pass filter. It is not a certified AML system. Always have a compliance officer review hits before acting on them.

Can I use this commercially?

Yes. All four sanctions lists (OFAC, EU, UN, UK FCDO) are official government-published data with permissive or public-domain licensing. The GLEIF API is CC0 (public domain). There is no OpenSanctions data, which requires a commercial license.

How often should I run this?

For onboarding, run once per new counterparty. For ongoing monitoring, schedule daily or weekly runs on your active portfolio. OFAC updates their SDN list frequently — sometimes multiple times per day during active sanctions events.

What's the false positive rate?

At the default threshold of 0.7, you will see occasional false positives on common words (e.g., searching "China National" may match various Chinese state entities). Increase fuzzyThreshold to 0.85+ to reduce noise, or review hits manually. The score field tells you how close the match is.

Can I supply LEI codes directly?

Yes — include them in entities as {"lei": "HWUPKR0MPOU8FGXBT394"} or in the leis array. Direct LEI lookups bypass the name search step and are more reliable.

How do I get support?

Open a GitHub issue or contact us via the Apify Issues tab. Custom integrations and bulk-screening solutions available on request.