Politically exposed person checks
Safeguard your business with Zinc’s automated PEP checks. Document candidate’s political ties to stay ahead of reputational risks and prevent bribery, corruption, or fraud.
Identify PEP status and candidate connections to political figures
Get results in 1 minute
Prevent large-scale occupational fraud
What you need to know
Turnaround times
Available in
195 countries
Including
UK
USA
France
Germany
Spain
and more
Know who you’re hiring, assess risk, and protect your business from bribery or conflicts of interest.
Know who you’re hiring
PEP checks identify whether a candidate (or their close friends and family) currently holds, or previously held, prominent public positions that increase their risk of bribery. This includes government officials, judges, military leaders, executives of state-owned enterprises.
Stay compliant
According to the ACFE, corruption (including bribery and conflicts of interest) is involved in 50% of all large-scale occupational fraud cases. To prevent this, PEP checks are crucial for roles in procurement, fund flows, public contracts, senior decision-making, or access to sensitive commercial relationships.
Protect your business
Political status isn’t the problem — influence is. PEP results give you a chance to assess company exposure early, document the history, and make informed decisions about safeguards or escalations before your new hire starts.
See it in action
Book a demo and choose a time to speak with one of our experts about a custom solution for your business.
31
minutes
Average turnaround time
195
countries
Supported by Zinc
20
+
No-cost ATS and HRIS integrations
Get fast, transparent reports on conflicts of interests to help your hiring.
Complete visibility on candidate risk factors
No guesswork, just insights
Fast, real-time results
Stay in control of decision-making
It just runs.
“When we’ve used different providers, there was a lot of manual intervention required. But with Zinc, we’ve been able to put them in, click a button, and it just runs.”
Seamlessly assess bribery, corruption, or conflict-of-interest risks before making a hire.
Step one
When you add PEP screening to your check package, we use the candidate’s name and date of birth (already collected during the identity verification stage) to run the check. We don’t need anything extra from you or the candidate.
Step two
We screen candidates against the Entrust Watchlist using a fuzzy name matching algorithm that accounts for name variations. The checks identify both direct PEP status and connections to close associates and family members of politically exposed individuals.
Step three
You get results in your dashboard almost instantly. A PEP match isn’t about automatic rejection — it signals that their political exposure is worth a closer look before approving the hire. Most teams run PEP checks alongside sanctions and adverse media screening for a fuller picture.
Integrations
Background checks, integrated
Zinc connects directly with your ATS or HRIS at no additional cost. Send checks, get results, and store reports without leaving your preferred platform.
Why businesses love using Zinc
%%An intuitive, easy platform%% with support that's far quicker than other providers. The answers are always reliable, especially when we're dealing with different countries.
%%The candidate experience is excellent.%% Integration was straightforward, the pricing is among the best on the market, and support is quick and consistently helpful.
%%It automates the screening of new employees%% and integrates well with our ATS and HRIS. The initial setup was super easy and we're really happy with the product.
Onboarding takes just a few minutes and %%running checks for international contractors is seamless%%. The pay-per-use model is a huge plus for a small company like ours.
%%It has made my role, and my colleagues' day to day, much easier and more efficient%%, while significantly improving the overall experience for our candidates.
Checks and paperwork sync automatically with our recruitment and HR systems, %%saving us so much time%% not having to check multiple systems. The support teams are always incredibly helpful.
For teams of every size
Flexible background checks
Whether you’re hiring a little or a lot.
Under 20 hires annually
Pay As You Grow
Get started in minutes. Our Pay As You Grow plan is built for lower hiring volumes — a flat rate per check, with no hidden costs or setup fees.
Start checking in minutes, no setup needed
Flat rate per check, no hidden fees
Pay only for what you use
20+ hires annually
Custom solutions
For larger volumes, our experts build a package around your needs. Flexible with your hiring and never expires, with integrations, setup, training, and support all included free.
A custom package built around your hiring
Credit pool that never expires or rolls over
Integrations, setup, and training included free
More from Zinc
Check out more resources, straight from our experts
Start screening in days, not weeks
Combine this check with right to work, references, criminal records and more, across 195 countries, in a single candidate journey.
Which roles and industries require PEP screening in the UK?
PEP screening is most commonly required in financial services, where the FCA expects firms to identify and manage the risk of candidates with political connections as part of their anti-money laundering and financial crime prevention obligations. This applies across banking, asset management, insurance, and other FCA-regulated businesses. The FCA's published guidance is explicit: results should be assessed on a case-by-case basis, not with a blanket approach to all PEPs.
Beyond financial services, PEP checks are relevant for any role with:
- Significant procurement authority
- Access to public funds
- Management of sensitive commercial relationships
- Senior decision-making involving external stakeholders
Private equity, legal services, and public sector bodies that interact with politically connected individuals all commonly use them.
What’s the difference between a PEP check, a sanctions check, and an adverse media check?
These three checks serve different purposes and work best together.
A PEP check identifies whether a candidate currently holds, or has previously held, a position of political significance. That includes government officials, senior military figures, judges, executives of state-owned enterprises, and their close family members and associates. PEP status doesn't mean someone is unsuitable. It means their appointment warrants enhanced scrutiny.
A sanctions check is a legal compliance check. It identifies whether a candidate is subject to government-imposed restrictions, like asset freezes or trade bans, that would make engaging them legally prohibited. A sanctions match is a legal barrier, not just a flag for review.
An adverse media check scans news and publication databases for coverage linking a candidate to financial crime, fraud, or regulatory violations not picked up by structured databases.
Running all three gives you the most complete pre-hire picture for senior or regulated appointments.
Does Zinc’s PEP check cover a candidate’s family members and close associates?
Yes. Zinc's PEP screening covers both direct PEP status and connections to Relatives and Close Associates (RCAs): spouses, family members, and people with known close business or personal connections to a PEP.
The financial crime and influence risk associated with a politically exposed person can extend to the people around them, even where those individuals hold no political position themselves.
Zinc uses a fuzzy name matching algorithm via the Entrust Watchlist to identify potential matches, which accounts for name variations and transliterations. Where a match is found, it's flagged in your dashboard across two risk levels: low and high.
A PEP flag isn't an automatic rejection. It's a prompt for case-by-case enhanced scrutiny.
What data sources does Zinc use for PEP screening?
Zinc's PEP screening runs through the Entrust Watchlist, which is updated periodically to reflect changes in political status.
Checks run using the candidate's name and date of birth, collected during identity verification, with a fuzzy matching algorithm applied to catch name variations. Results come back across three risk levels, giving your compliance team a structured basis for assessing exposure.