Politically exposed persons checks

Identify candidates who may be vulnerable to influence and protect your business from reputational harm.

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What is a politically exposed persons (PEP) check?

A politically exposed person (PEP) check is a comprehensive background check to identify individuals who hold, or have previously held, positions of political significance that could increase their vulnerability to financial crime.

Use PEP checks to identify how a candidate’s affiliations could impact your business risk and reputation.

At Zinc, we categorise PEP checks into three distinct categories relating to their severity: low risk, medium risk, and high risk.

Safeguard business reputation

Complete visibility on candidate risk factors

Protect your organisation against misconduct or scandal by identifying the appointment of individuals with a PEP status.

Detailed insights

Make informed hiring choices

Understand your candidates’ affiliations with confidence indicators, helping support confident and diverse international hiring.

Save weeks of time

All your essential checks, automated

Zinc automatically searches hundreds of PEP sources and returns matches in seconds. Receive real-time updates and a report on completion to eliminate manual workloads and save time for the projects that matter most.

How it works

Applicants upload proof of identification such as a passport, driving license, or government ID.

Zinc verifies the legitimacy of identity documents.

Our system check's the candidate's identity against databases sourced from government lists, websites and other media sources.

Explore our features

Check features
Automated checks
See the detail behind the result
ATS integrations
Integrate our checks into your ATS or HRIS.
Global coverage
Tailored packages
Curate a checking package for specific countries or regulation. Or have one globally consistent range of checks.
Simple and secure
Simple and secure checks, helping you make safer hiring decisions.
Elevated experiences
Custom brand your candidate's flows and choose light or dark mode. Candidate's can easily submit checks from any device.
Benefits
Compliant
Fully compliant with Global & EU law.
Tier 1 registered with the ICO.
Integrations
Direct ATS integrations. Get in touch and we'll set you up for free.
Support
Instant live chat support from the Zinc team around the clock.
Robust
Robust service that's relied upon by regulated businesses globally.

FAQs

Find answers to common questions about our Politically Exposed Persons checks and processes.

How often are results updated?

The PEP database is programatically updated daily.

What database is used to check for politically exposed people?

Zinc uses a database sourced from government lists, websites and other global media sources. Our system checks the candidate’s identity against a wide range of data to ensure complete screening coverage.

How does Zinc identify potential politically exposed candidates?

Once your candidate has uploaded their proof of identification, Zinc automatically checks the candidate’s name, and date of birth where available, against a range of PEP sources.

Loved by the customers and candidates

“I can’t fault Zinc really, for me it’s been a seamless process even with changing the integrations from Workable to Greenhouse it’s been easy. As a team when it comes to the process we don’t even have to think about it really, which is a good thing.”

Philip Stephens

People Operations Specialist

“Zinc is coming up with new ways to improve the experience such as allowing the HMRC check to be completed alongside regulatory references, a game changer when ensuring a candidate's work history is accounted for. All in all, a great experience so far!”

Claire Jackson

Compliance Coordinator

“The Zinc team comes with ideas that brings it to the next level. I really appreciate that there is a willingness to develop and make changes. It's quick and it just happens. It's so difficult to find other partners that have that have that same mindset. For me that's the most important thing that you actually want to hear what we're saying and adapt to our ways of thinking.”

Marlen Gfrörer

Staff Onboarding

“I needed something that I could rely on to do thorough background checks. You can't cut corners on recruitment in education. If you can't do the safeguarding at recruitment, then you're letting unsafe people into the organisation. I needed something that I could depend on, and I’m 100% confident Zinc is that.”

Alex Pazik

Safeguarding Manager

“We have been using Zinc for nearly 2 years now and it has made a world of difference with our onboarding. Zinc saves us a huge amount of time, takes the admin off our team along with having all the references in one place. We can click a button and everything is done for us, we will never go back to manual reference checking”

Craig McElroy

Talent Acquisition Manager

“Being FCA regulated we have no room for error with our checks. Zinc is our go-to for DBS & RTW checks with lightning fast turn-around times, zero admin, and maintaining a best in class candidate experience”

Smitha Sanjeev

People Operations

“Zinc is brilliant! It takes a big burden off us by handling reference follow-ups and chasing. Plus, the integration with PinPoint works great! It’s simple and easy to use for new hires and employers alike, and the chat is really useful too. Being 100% compliant with our client’s background verification requirements gives me peace of mind and keeps us feeling on top of our game!”

Swetha Sundaram

Head of HR