How Much Does VerifyNow AML PEP Screening Cost in South Africa?

How much does VerifyNow AML PEP screening cost? It depends on your volume, risk needs, and workflow—but the bigger win is knowing what you’re paying for: faster FICA compliance, fewer false positives, and cleaner audit trails.

If you’re building a compliant onboarding flow in South Africa, AML PEP screening is one of the most cost-effective controls you can implement—especially when it’s automated through VerifyNow.

Important compliance note
FICA requires accountable institutions to apply a risk-based approach. That means your screening frequency, depth, and recordkeeping should match the risk profile of the customer and relationship.

What “AML PEP Screening Cost” Really Means (and What You’re Buying)

When people ask “How much does VerifyNow AML PEP screening cost?” they’re often thinking of a single price per check. In practice, total cost includes more than the scan itself.

What’s included in AML + PEP screening

With VerifyNow’s platform, AML PEP screening typically refers to checks that help you identify and manage:

Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) (domestic and foreign, including close associates where applicable)
Sanctions exposure (to reduce prohibited dealings risk)
Adverse media signals (where relevant to your risk model)
Ongoing monitoring options (for long-term relationships, where required)

Key terms to know (and budget for):

PEP screening: Flagging politically exposed customers and related parties.
Sanctions screening: Identifying sanctioned persons/entities to avoid prohibited transactions.
Ongoing monitoring: Re-screening during the customer lifecycle, not just at onboarding.
Audit trail: Evidence you screened, when you screened, and what you did with results.

Cost drivers that affect pricing

Your AML PEP screening cost is influenced by:

Screening volume
Higher monthly checks usually reduce the effective cost per screening.
Risk level and workflow complexity
If your onboarding includes enhanced due diligence steps, you may need deeper screening and more frequent re-checks.
Match handling (false positives)
Poorly tuned screening creates extra manual review time—which is a real cost.
Ongoing monitoring requirements
If you re-screen customers periodically or on trigger events, your total screening count increases.
Evidence and reporting needs
Strong recordkeeping (for FICA audits and internal governance) reduces downstream compliance costs.

Important compliance note
Under FICA, you must keep records and demonstrate controls. A “cheap check” that produces weak evidence can become expensive during an audit.

How to: Estimate Your VerifyNow AML PEP Screening Budget (Simple Model)

You don’t need a complicated spreadsheet to estimate your expected spend. Use this How to: model to forecast your likely range.

Step 1: Define your monthly screening volume

Estimate:

New customers onboarded per month
Existing customers needing re-screening (risk-based)
Additional checks for directors, beneficial owners, or related parties (where applicable)

Step 2: Decide how often to screen (risk-based)

A practical approach many South African teams use:

At onboarding for all customers (baseline)
On key changes (e.g., ownership, mandate, contact details, unusual activity)
Periodically for higher-risk relationships (enhanced monitoring)

Step 3: Add operational costs (not just per-check cost)

Budget for internal time spent on:

Reviewing potential matches
Escalations and approvals
Documenting decisions and storing evidence

Budgeting table: What to include

Cost Component	What It Covers	Why It Matters for FICA/KYC
Screening checks	AML + PEP screening events	Baseline KYC and risk controls
Ongoing monitoring	Re-screening over time	Helps maintain lifecycle compliance
Match review time	Handling alerts and false positives	Prevents bottlenecks and missed risks
Audit evidence	Logs, timestamps, outcomes	Supports defensible compliance
Process integration	Workflow and team access	Reduces manual admin and errors

Where to view VerifyNow pricing

For the most accurate and current pricing structure, use VerifyNow’s official pricing page:

VerifyNow Pricing

Important compliance note
FICA compliance is not “set and forget.” Your budget should include ongoing controls, not only onboarding checks.

How VerifyNow Pricing Typically Works (What to Expect)

VerifyNow’s pricing is designed to scale with your business—so you can start lean and grow without rebuilding your compliance stack.

Common pricing structures (what businesses usually choose)

While exact figures are best confirmed on the pricing page, most AML PEP screening costs fall into one of these models:

Pay-per-check
Good for low-volume onboarding or pilots.
Tiered usage plans
Better unit economics as your screening volume increases.
Custom plans
Ideal for multi-branch operations, higher compliance complexity, or advanced workflows.

What makes VerifyNow cost-efficient in practice

The real savings often come from:

Faster onboarding (less drop-off, quicker revenue)
Fewer manual reviews (better screening relevance and workflow)
Cleaner audit readiness (less scrambling when regulators ask questions)
Centralised compliance evidence (reduced operational friction)

If you want a direct path to implementation, start here:

VerifyNow (platform overview and onboarding)

💡 Ready to streamline your How to: compliance? Sign up for VerifyNow and start verifying IDs in seconds.

How to: Stay Compliant While Managing AML PEP Screening Costs (South Africa)

Cutting cost is fine—cutting corners is not. Here’s how to control spend while strengthening compliance outcomes.

1) Build a risk-based screening policy

Your policy should clearly define:

Who you screen (customers, directors, beneficial owners where applicable)
When you screen (onboarding, trigger events, periodic reviews)
What happens when there’s a match (escalation path)
How you document decisions (audit trail)

FICA-aligned guidance and resources:

Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC)

2) Reduce false positives with clear data capture

A surprisingly common cost driver is messy customer data. Improve your onboarding capture:

Full names as per ID
Date of birth (where applicable)
ID number / registration number
Nationality and residency indicators (where relevant)

This reduces unnecessary alerts and speeds up approvals.

3) Align screening with POPIA (privacy-by-design)

Screening involves personal information, so your process must align with POPIA principles:

Lawful processing and purpose limitation
Security safeguards
Retention and deletion rules
Breach readiness and reporting workflows

Authoritative POPIA resources:

Important compliance note
Currently, POPIA enforcement includes serious consequences. Penalties can reach ZAR 10 million, and organisations should be ready to manage data breach reporting through the regulator’s channels, including the POPIA eServices Portal where applicable.

4) Prepare for audits and incident response (don’t pay later)

Cost control is also about avoiding expensive remediation. Make sure you can:

Prove screening happened (timestamped logs)
Show decisions and approvals
Demonstrate staff access controls
Document breach response steps and timelines

If you need to formalise your compliance operations, you can start implementing immediately with:

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FAQ: VerifyNow AML PEP Screening Cost, FICA & KYC (South Africa)

Is AML PEP screening required under FICA?

Yes, in practice for many accountable institutions—because FICA requires a risk-based approach to identify and manage money laundering and terrorist financing risk. Screening helps you identify PEPs and other high-risk relationships and apply appropriate controls.

How much does VerifyNow AML PEP screening cost per check?

VerifyNow pricing depends on your plan and usage. The most accurate source is the official pricing page: VerifyNow Pricing. If your volume is growing, a tiered plan can reduce your effective cost per screening.

What’s the difference between PEP screening and sanctions screening?

PEP screening identifies politically exposed persons who may require enhanced due diligence.
Sanctions screening identifies individuals or entities subject to restrictions that may prohibit dealing or require immediate escalation.

Both are important for a defensible KYC and AML programme.

How often should we re-screen customers?

Use a risk-based schedule. A common pattern is:

At onboarding for everyone
More frequently for high-risk customers
On trigger events (ownership changes, unusual activity, new jurisdictions)

Does POPIA affect AML screening?

Yes. POPIA governs how you collect, use, store, and secure personal information used in screening. You should also be ready for data breach reporting obligations and regulator engagement via the POPIA eServices Portal.

Helpful official references:

How can we lower AML PEP screening costs without increasing risk?

Focus on:

Better onboarding data quality (fewer false positives)
Clear escalation rules (faster decisions)
Right-sized re-screening frequency (risk-based)
Centralised audit evidence (less admin)

And automate the workflow with: VerifyNow.

Get Started with VerifyNow Today

If you’re serious about FICA, KYC, and How to: build a scalable compliance workflow in South Africa, VerifyNow helps you screen faster, document better, and stay audit-ready—without bloated operations.

Benefits of signing up:

Automated AML + PEP screening to support risk-based compliance
Cleaner audit trails for faster FICA reporting and reviews
Reduced manual effort through streamlined verification workflows
POPIA-aligned operational readiness with stronger data handling practices

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