Building Confidence in Sanctions Screening: Testing, Assurance, and Synthetic Data

Written by Thistle Initiatives - Compliance consultancy | 16 September 2025

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

Sanctions screening systems are only as strong as the testing behind it. With regulators sharpening their focus and firms relying on third-party or proprietary tools, the challenge is no longer if you test, but how.

In this webinar, moderated by Financial Crime Partner Jessica Cath, experts from Thistle Initiatives, Napier AI and FinCrime Dynamics explored why robust testing and assurance is critical to getting sanctions screening right, and what happens when firms fall short. From using synthetic data to building practical test scenarios, we’ll discuss how to bring confidence and clarity to your processes.

We also discussed the realities of working with vendors, and how to embed ongoing testing into your processes. Whether you’re in compliance, technology, or audit, this is a chance to cut through the complexity and see what good looks like. We covered:

Why testing and assurance matters
Approaches to testing and the role of synthetic data
Practical engagement with vendors

Jessica Cath | MODERATOR
Financial Crime Partner, Thistle Initiatives

Jessica is a financial crime leader, working with a range of firms to build, scale and assure all elements of the financial crime framework. She has worked with start-ups to Tier 1 Banks to transform controls through growth phases or when facing regulatory enforcement. Jess has also conducted multiple US monitor and s166 Skilled Person reviews globally, and has a Masters Degree in Intelligence and International Security and holds an ICA diploma in Financial Crime Prevention.

James Dodsworth
Senior Manager, Thistle Initiatives

James has worked in financial crime compliance across a range of sectors and firms for over 20 years. As a certified fraud investigator, James has experience in all three lines of defense: conducting investigations, designing and delivering fraud controls and risk assessments, aswell as creating and reviewing policies and procedures.

Want to strengthen your sanctions screening framework? Thistle Initiatives supports firms with tailored testing, assurance, and vendor oversight to help meet regulatory expectations and build confidence in your controls. Read more about our Sanctions Services.

Martyn Higson
Chief Technology Officer, FinCrime Dynamics

Martyn leads the engineering and delivery functions at FinCrime Dynamics as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining FinCrime Dynamics, Martyn ran implementation at the leading anti-fraud and anti-money laundering AI vendor Featurespace (acquired by Visa) where he worked for over 7 years helping the business grow from 60 to over 400 people. He deployed complex Machine Learning platforms into some of the world’s most complex banking and processor infrastructures and scaled the Implementation Engineering team to over 30 engineers globally. Martyn holds a Masters in Engineering from The University of Cambridge.

FinCrime Dynamics helps build better defences against financial crime and fraud utilising synthetic data and simulation testing. Our team works with financial institutions to create custom financial crime and fraud threat testing programmes and, by using synthetic data and simulation techniques, we help safely find gaps and errors in controls before criminals can exploit them. FinCrime Dynamics is front and centre in the fight against financial crime. We engage with financial institutions, government, and law enforcement to promote intelligence sharing and collaboration through actionable and lively roundtables and events.

William Monk
Chief Product Officer, Napier AI

Will has 20+ years of experience leading global financial crime operations, transformation programmes, and product strategy and development across financial services, both as a Managing Director within banks and as an advisor/consultant. He has previously worked as Global Head of Financial Crime Quality & Standards at Natwest, and his experience comes from a breadth of leading global financial institutions including HSBC, Barclays, and UBS.

Napier AI is a new breed of RegTech delivering anti-money laundering and financial crime compliance software to financial institutions, payments and wealth & asset management firms. Napier AI designs and engineers technological innovation to make a measurable difference in driving down financial crime. Trusted by over 100 institutions worldwide, the company’s platform, Napier AI Continuum, is transforming compliance from a legal obligation to a competitive edge. Napier AI creates solutions for compliance teams to gain a holistic and continuous view of risk powered by AI.

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