Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)
A deeper level of investigation applied to higher-risk individuals or entities, going beyond standard due diligence checks to examine reputational, financial, and background risk factors in more depth.
Standard Due Diligence
The baseline level of background and risk screening applied to a subject, typically covering identity verification, public records, and basic reputational checks.
Reputational Due Diligence
An assessment focused on a person’s or entity’s public reputation, media history, and behavioral red flags, as distinct from their operational or financial track record.
Operational Due Diligence
An assessment of an entity’s internal processes, controls, and operational track record, typically used to evaluate fund managers or business partners.
Continuous Monitoring
Ongoing, periodic re-screening of a subject after an initial due diligence review, designed to catch new risk events (legal, reputational, financial) as they emerge.
KYC (Know Your Customer)
A regulatory process, mainly used by financial institutions, to verify the identity of a customer and assess associated risk before or during a business relationship.
KYC vs. Due Diligence
A comparison entry clarifying that KYC is a regulatory identity-verification process, while due diligence is a broader, often voluntary, risk-assessment process that can extend well beyond identity checks.
AML (Anti-Money Laundering)
A set of laws, regulations, and procedures designed to detect and prevent the disguising of illegally obtained funds as legitimate income.
Sanctions Screening
The process of checking an individual or entity against government and international sanctions lists to confirm they are not restricted from doing business.
Adverse Media Screening
A search of news and public sources for negative or reputationally damaging coverage of a subject, used to flag risks not visible in official records.
PEP (Politically Exposed Person)
An individual who holds, or has held, a prominent public role, and who is therefore considered higher-risk for corruption or bribery exposure under most compliance frameworks.
Beneficial Ownership
The individual(s) who ultimately own or control a legal entity, even if the entity is formally held through intermediary structures.
UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner)
The natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company or asset, often used interchangeably with ‘beneficial owner’ in a regulatory context.
ID Verification
The process of confirming that a person is who they claim to be, typically using government-issued documents, biometric checks, or database cross-referencing.
Name / Alias Variation Search
A search technique that accounts for spelling variations, nicknames, maiden names, and known aliases to avoid missing records tied to a subject under a different name.
OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence)
Intelligence gathered from publicly available sources, such as news, social media, court records, and corporate filings, without requiring covert or restricted-access methods.
HUMINT (Human Intelligence)
Intelligence gathered through direct human sources, such as interviews with people who have first-hand knowledge of a subject, rather than from documents or databases.
Discreet Interview
A confidential, informal conversation with a source who has relevant knowledge of a subject, conducted without revealing the purpose of the inquiry to the subject themselves.
Court Runner
A person who physically retrieves court and county records that are not available in digital databases, often required because a meaningful share of U.S. county records remain physical-only.
County Records Search
A search of records held at the county level (civil litigation, criminal records, property records) that often require direct courthouse access rather than centralized databases.
Public Records Search
A search of government-maintained records that are legally accessible to the public, including court filings, property records, licenses, and corporate registrations.
Litigation Search
A search for civil or criminal litigation history involving a subject, used to surface legal disputes, judgments, or claims that may indicate risk.
Asset Search
A search to identify property, financial holdings, or other assets owned by a subject, often used in lending, litigation, or fraud-recovery contexts.
ILPA DDQ (ILPA Due Diligence Questionnaire)
A standardized due diligence questionnaire template published by the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), used by LPs to evaluate GPs before or during a fund commitment.
GP Due Diligence
The process by which limited partners (LPs) evaluate a general partner (GP) before committing capital, covering track record, operations, compliance, and reputational risk.
LP Operational Due Diligence
The subset of due diligence LPs conduct focused specifically on a GP’s operational infrastructure, controls, and back-office capabilities, distinct from investment-performance review.
Fund Manager Due Diligence
The evaluation process used to assess a fund manager’s track record, team, operations, and reputational history before allocating capital to their fund.
Pre-Investment Due Diligence
Due diligence conducted before finalizing an investment, typically covering the target’s leadership, financial history, and reputational risk ahead of deal close.
M&A Due Diligence
Due diligence conducted as part of a merger or acquisition process, assessing the target company’s leadership, liabilities, and reputational risk before the deal closes.
Portfolio Company (PortCo) Monitoring
Ongoing risk monitoring of a company after a PE firm has invested in it, designed to catch executive or operational risk events that emerge post-investment.
FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act)
A U.S. law that prohibits bribery of foreign officials for business purposes and requires certain companies to maintain accurate books and records.
DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act)
An EU regulation requiring financial entities and their critical third-party providers to meet specific standards for digital operational resilience and ICT risk management.
EU CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive)
An EU directive requiring large companies to identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their own operations and supply chains.
Corporate Transparency Act
A U.S. law requiring many companies to report their beneficial ownership information to a federal registry, aimed at combating money laundering and shell-company abuse.
Private Credit Borrower Monitoring
Ongoing due diligence and risk monitoring of a borrower throughout the life of a private credit loan, used to catch financial or reputational risk changes after funding.
Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Due Diligence
Due diligence conducted on borrowers, sponsors, or counterparties in a commercial real estate transaction, covering financial history, litigation, and reputational risk.