41% of Payments Professionals Cite Indirect Exposure as Leading Sanctions Risk Challenge, Clear Junction Webinar Poll Finds

Clear Junction webinar with Crystal Intelligence and WhiteBIT highlights pressure points across screening, escalation and crypto-fiat payment decision-making

London, UK, July 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Indirect exposure emerged as the leading sanctions risk challenge among payments professionals responding to live polling during a Clear Junction webinar on sanctions controls across crypto activity and fiat settlement.

The webinar, After the Alert: Sanctions Controls Where Crypto Meets Fiat Settlement, was hosted by Clear Junction with Crystal Intelligence and WhiteBIT, with more than 120 industry professionals remaining in attendance during the session.

A live poll conducted during the session found that:

• 41% of respondents identified indirect exposure as the greatest sanctions risk challenge facing their team today
• 33% selected wallet and transaction screening
• 18% selected customer and counterparty due diligence
• 4% selected fiat settlement and payment flows
• 4% selected escalation and decision-making

The findings highlight the difficulty of identifying sanctions exposure beyond direct name or wallet matches, particularly across payment chains, counterparties, intermediaries and digital asset activity.

A second poll found that deciding whether to pause or proceed was the hardest part of responding to a sanctions-related alert for 36% of respondents. Assessing indirect exposure followed at 29%, while 21% cited difficulties obtaining information from counterparties.

Respondents also identified transaction monitoring as the main area their firms plan to strengthen, selected by 29%, followed by escalation workflows at 22%. Blockchain analytics, payment operations, and audit and evidence processes each received 14%.

Olga Mackintosh, Chief Commercial Officer at Clear Junction, who moderated the webinar, commented:

“Sanctions risk management is becoming increasingly operational. The poll results show that firms are looking beyond screening and paying close attention to how they assess indirect exposure, make decisions under time pressure and evidence those decisions clearly. A risk signal can quickly become a payment decision. Strong controls depend on how well compliance insight, transaction monitoring, payment operations and escalation processes work together.”

The webinar comes as financial institutions, fintechs and digital asset businesses continue to adapt their controls to an environment shaped by faster payments, cross-border flows, digital asset activity, evolving sanctions developments and more complex counterparty relationships.

Clear Junction provides licensed financial institutions with access to GBP and EUR local payment rails, virtual IBANs and hybrid fiat and digital asset infrastructure. The firm continues to support industry discussion on how payment systems, digital asset infrastructure and compliance frameworks can evolve together while maintaining high standards of risk management.

The webinar recording, After the Alert: Sanctions Controls Where Crypto Meets Fiat Settlement, is available here: https://clearjunction.com/insights/crypto-meets-fiat-settlement/

About Clear Junction

Clear Junction is a global payments solutions provider established in 2016. Clear Junction enables regulated financial institutions to open payment accounts, issue virtual IBANs, access payment networks, and use FX services, digital asset infrastructure, and e-wallets quickly, securely, and in compliance with regulatory requirements. The Clear Junction Group includes several entities with relevant regulatory permissions across the UK and Canada, offering payment and crypto-asset services. These include:

• Clear Junction Limited – An EMI authorised by the UK FCA
• Clear Junction Digital Limited – FCA-registered crypto-asset business
• Clear Junction Canada Limited – An MSB registered with FINTRAC

Clear Junction continues to build enterprise-grade infrastructure for regulated FIs globally that bridges the gap between traditional finance and digital assets.

For more information, visit: www.clearjunction.com

Clear Junction marketing@clearjunction.com