Why 95% of adverse media check results are useless
In compliance teams, few activities provoke as many sighs as adverse media checks.
In theory, this check is essential. In practice, it too often turns into a laborious exercise where hours are spent reviewing articles that, in the vast majority of cases, have no relevance to the client under review.
💡 Key takeaways
- Adverse media is essential, but largely ineffective in its current form. In some institutions, up to 95% of results are just noise.
- The overabundance of uncontextualized information reduces the value of the check and unnecessarily burdens analysts.
- Information noise is a real AML risk, masking the signals that actually matter.
- A smart approach can filter out noise to reveal the signal, leveraging context and risk materiality.
- Technology does not replace human expertise. It refocuses it on analysis, investigation, and decision-making.
When adverse media checks become more burden than benefit
In some institutions, more than 95% of Adverse Media results are false positives. These include:
- Homonyms.
- Articles with no connection to the client.
- Content referring to a context, but not the right individual.
- Secondary sources with little real relevance.
Yet every result must be read, evaluated, and justified. What should be a powerful detection tool becomes an overwhelming operational burden.
Adverse media checks are essential… but ineffective in its current form
Adverse media has become indispensable. It complements sanction lists, enriches understanding of client risk, and helps detect otherwise invisible weak signals. But its effectiveness is undermined by how traditional tools present results: an avalanche of links, often poorly structured, sometimes off-topic, with highly variable relevance.
In practice, this creates operational fatigue:
- Analysts spend disproportionate time sorting irrelevant content.
- Case files grow longer, and turnaround times increase.
- Truly relevant articles risk being lost in the mass.
- Focus is diluted, mechanically increasing the risk of mistakes.
We end up forgetting that the goal is not to “see everything,” but to identify what matters.
Why so much noise in adverse media checks?
The explosion in volume of available information partly explains the phenomenon. Search engines, databases, content aggregators… Information is abundant, but rarely structured to meet AML needs. Three structural dynamics add to the problem:
- Homonyms, generating results unrelated to the client.
- Broad, generic articles mentioning crimes or sectors without direct connection.
- Poorly contextualized sources, lacking detail to assess materiality.
The result is simple: the analyst must do the work the tool did not.
Filter. Understand. Discard. Over and over again.
The hidden risk: when noise masks the signal
Too much information can be just as dangerous as too little.
When analysts must sift through dozens of useless articles, vigilance fades, focus scatters, and even the sharpest eye can miss an important element.
Information noise is not just an operational irritant. It’s an AML risk. In an ocean of false positives, the true risk can become invisible.
A smarter way to perform adverse media checks
The breakthrough comes from tools that understand context, filter noise, and surface only truly relevant items.
This is exactly what platforms like our Harmoney Agent enables, combining automation, linguistic analysis, and business logic. Our Agent turns raw search results into actionable intelligence. It automatically identifies:
- whether the article truly concerns the right person,
- whether the content reflects a material risk,
- whether the article should be added to the file or ignored,
- whether the client’s risk level requires updating.
The initial sorting, today consuming the most analyst time, is automated. What reaches the team is already filtered, classified, and contextualized.
Result: fewer articles to read, more focus on the right signals, and a safer process.
A new experience for analysts
The effect is immediate: teams are no longer overwhelmed by endless result lists. They no longer waste precious time verifying irrelevant content. They can focus on what really matters:
- understanding risk,
- investigating sensitive cases,
- making decisions.
Technology does not replace human expertise. It directs it where it matters most.
Conclusion: from a burdensome check to a strategic tool
In its current form, adverse media screening is often a bottleneck. But with a smart approach, it becomes a lever for insight, an early warning source, and a key component of client risk profiling.
By filtering out 95% of noise, a platform like Harmoney restores meaning, efficiency, and precision to a process essential for AML risk management.
The challenge is not finding more information. The challenge is finding the right information.
Harmoney offers a cutting-edge digital platform that streamlines intricate onboarding and compliance procedures, featuring automated screening functionalities. Interested in discovering more about our innovative solution? Reach out to us for further details or stay in touch via our newsletter ⬇️.