Why Ongoing Monitoring Tops the List of AML / KYC Challenges, According to 2,200+ Industry Professionals

In a recent LinkedIn poll that gathered 2,206 responses from compliance, risk and financial crime prevention professionals, one insight stood out clearly: ongoing monitoring and reviews are the biggest challenge in today’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) landscape.

Participants were asked: "In your experience, which area of AML / KYC poses the biggest challenge today?"

Here’s how they responded:

• Customer Due Diligence (CDD): 13%
• Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): 18%
• Sanctions and Politically Exposed Person (PEP) Screening: 23%
• Ongoing Monitoring and Reviews: 46%

Let’s unpack why these results make sense, and what they signal about the future of compliance operations.

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Why Ongoing Monitoring Ranks #1

With nearly half of respondents (46%) selecting ongoing monitoring and reviews as the biggest challenge, the message is clear: Compliance doesn’t stop after onboarding.

Unlike initial customer due diligence, which typically happens once at the beginning of a relationship, ongoing monitoring requires:

• Continuous risk evaluation as a customer’s activity evolves
• Real-time alerts for sanctions, PEP changes or adverse media
• Periodic reviews and data refreshes driven by internal policies or regulatory expectations
• Systematic re-verification of ownership structures and transaction behavior

This is resource-intensive, often manual, and heavily dependent on technology that can integrate data sources and trigger meaningful alerts. Many teams simply lack the automation, internal coordination or bandwidth to execute this well - especially in fast-scaling environments like fintech, investment management or cross-border trade.

This result also makes me wonder - what do people really mean when they say ongoing monitoring and reviews are the hardest?

Is it the transaction or behavior monitoring? The timing and frequency of refresh cycles (often referred to as Ongoing Due Diligence or ODD)? Or is it the outreach effort to collect updated documentation?

In many cases, it’s the refresh process that creates the most friction - especially when customers or counterparties are asked to send the same documents multiple times.

If that’s the pain point, here’s one key takeaway:

‍Reusing already delivered data is critical.

Most people don’t mind updating or supplementing their information, but they do get frustrated when asked to resend documents they’ve already submitted. Smart KYC platforms that centralize and track document history help solve this, reducing the need for redundant outreach and making the refresh experience smoother for both sides.

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Why Sanctions and PEP Screening Came in Second

With 23% of votes, sanctions screening and PEP screening is the next most challenging area. This aligns with today’s complex geopolitical environment. As global sanctions lists change frequently and new PEPs emerge, companies must continuously screen not just direct clients, but beneficial owners, related parties and counterparties.

False positives and alert fatigue remain ongoing pain points. The challenge here is not just screening. It’s prioritizing and resolving alerts quickly and accurately.

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EDD and CDD Lag Behind... But Are Still Foundational

That Enhanced Due Diligence (18%) and Customer Due Diligence (13%) ranked lower isn’t a sign they’re easy. It’s more likely that they are better established in most compliance programs. Teams often have well-documented processes and checklists for onboarding. However, onboarding is just the beginning. The challenge today lies in what happens after the customer is onboarded.

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What These Results Suggest About the Future of KYC

Compliance teams are under pressure to move from periodic, manual KYC to continuous, dynamic risk monitoring. That means investing in technology, revising internal workflows, and adopting platforms that enable:

• Automated alerting for sanctions and PEP changes
• Structured data refresh cycles
• Case management across departments
• Integration of public data with client-declared information
• Scalable remediation for outdated or missing documents

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Solutions like Avallone's KYC Collector software tool - as well as the KYC Managed Services offering - are uniquely positioned to help teams build centralized visibility across the full lifecycle of the customer or counterparty relationship.

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Key takeaways to the Top AML / KYC Challenge in 2025

The results of this poll highlight a critical shift in AML/KYC strategy: It’s not just about who your customers are when they onboard; it’s about who they become over time.

Ongoing monitoring is no longer optional. It’s central to a strong, risk-based compliance framework, and solving it may be the most important challenge your organization tackles in the coming year.

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