January 21, 2021

Refinitiv joins forces with The Sentry to prevent war criminals abusing the financial system

The Sentry to provide Refinitiv with open-source data to enhance its World-Check dataset and disrupt war criminal networks.

London / New York: Refinitiv, one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure, announced today its partnership with The Sentry, an investigative and policy team that seeks to prevent African war criminals and their business networks from abusing the international financial system.

Each year, Africa loses billions of dollars in illicit financial outflows. As financial crimes and serious violence often occur in tandem, The Sentry seeks to create significant financial consequences for kleptocrats, war criminals, and their international financial facilitators.

Co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, The Sentry is a strategic partner of the Clooney Foundation for Justice. The organization uses open-source data collection, field research, and state-of-the-art network data analysis technology, and it works in partnership with local and international civil society organizations, journalists, and governments to track and analyze how armed conflict and atrocities are financed, sustained, and monetized.

Through this partnership, The Sentry will provide Refinitiv World-Check with hard-to-obtain information on illicit activities and individuals who operate in Africa. Relevant data provided by The Sentry will help expand World-Check’s capacity to assist companies in their efforts to meet regulatory obligations with respect to money-laundering and the financing of terrorism. Beyond the provision of data, The Sentry and Refinitiv Platforms will collaborate on joint events, webinars, whitepapers, and other educational content.

“Two decades ago, we created World-Check to assist our customers as they sought new ways to meet regulatory obligations with respect to protecting their businesses from financial crime,” said Che Sidanius, Head of Financial Crime Regulation and Industry Affairs at Refinitiv. “As we mark World-Check’s 20th anniversary, we continue to bolster our dataset and grow our partner network, most recently by joining forces with The Sentry. We’re proud to work with The Sentry and we look forward to identifying new ways to help halt war criminals and war profiteers as our partnership continues to evolve.”

“To help prevent future mass atrocities, the public and private sector must target the financial infrastructure enabling armed violence and grave human rights abuse. As a pioneer in using data and technology to combat financial crime, we welcome Refinitiv’s expertise and global reach in the fight against war criminals and war profiteers,” said Megha Swamy, Deputy Director of Illicit Finance Policy at The Sentry. “By integrating our data with World-Check, we’re getting closer to targeting those responsible for fuelling war and mass atrocities where they are most vulnerable – their money.”

The World-Check Risk Intelligence database delivers accurate and reliable information to help businesses make informed decisions. It has hundreds of specialist researchers and analysts across the globe, adhering to the most stringent research guidelines as they collate information from reliable and reputable sources – such as watch lists, government records and media searches.

About The Sentry

The Sentry is an investigative and policy team that follows the dirty money connected to African war criminals and transnational war profiteers and seeks to shut those benefiting from violence out of the international financial system. By disrupting the cost-benefit calculations of those who hijack governments for self-enrichment, we seek to counter the main drivers of conflict and create new leverage for peace, human rights, and good governance. The Sentry is composed of financial investigators, international human rights lawyers, and regional experts, as well as former law enforcement agents, intelligence officers, policymakers, investigative journalists, and banking professionals. Co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, The Sentry is a strategic partner of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.

Learn more at www.TheSentry.org.

About Refinitiv

Refinitiv is one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure, serving over 40,000 institutions in approximately 190 countries. It provides leading data and insights, trading platforms, and open data and technology platforms that connect a thriving global financial markets community – driving performance in trading, investment, wealth management, regulatory compliance, market data management, enterprise risk and fighting financial crime.

Contact

Paul Sandell
Director, Communications
Refinitiv
Mobile +44 (0)791 700 8761
Paul.Sandell@refinitiv.com