CLM Glossary
A
Adverse Media
Information from credible public or commercial sources indicating that a person or entity may be associated with criminal activity, misconduct or other matters relevant to the bank's assessment of financial-crime or reputational risk.
Anti-Money Laundering
The laws, regulations, controls and activities intended to prevent, detect and respond to attempts to disguise the proceeds of crime or introduce them into the legitimate financial system.
Archival
The controlled retention of client, entity, relationship and lifecycle information after an active relationship has ended, in accordance with legal, regulatory and business requirements.
Arrangement Account Number
An identifier assigned to a particular business arrangement or account through which activity is conducted. It should remain linked to the entity and arrangement that give it meaning.
B
Beneficial Owner
A natural person who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity or arrangement, directly or indirectly, according to the applicable regulatory definition.
Branch
A legally dependent establishment of a legal entity operating from a particular jurisdiction or licensed location. For CLM purposes, a branch may need to be represented separately because its location, regulatory permissions and business participation can differ from those of its head office.
Business Arrangement
The specific arrangement through which the bank and a client or other participant conduct permitted business. It provides the context within which contracts, products, accounts and other business-enablement mechanisms operate.
Business Enablement Identifier
An identifier used by the bank or a market infrastructure to enable an entity to conduct particular business. Examples can include account identifiers, settlement identifiers, venue identifiers and platform-specific identifiers.
Business Relationship
The broader relationship between the bank and a client or other participant within which one or more business arrangements and contracts may exist.
C
Capability
The combination of people, process, data, technology, controls and governance required to achieve a defined business outcome repeatedly and reliably.
Case Management
The management of a particular piece of work through defined stages, tasks and decisions. Case management can support CLM but is not the same as managing the full lifecycle of an entity or relationship.
Client
The party or wider enterprise with which the bank has, or intends to establish, a business relationship. A client may comprise multiple legal entities, branches and other participants.
Client Due Diligence
The process through which a bank identifies and verifies a client or relevant entity, understands its ownership, control, activities and intended relationship, and assesses the risks associated with establishing or continuing that relationship.
Client Enablement
The process of making a client, entity or business arrangement operationally capable of conducting approved business across the relevant banking and market infrastructure.
Client Enablement Effectiveness
The extent to which CLM successfully enables approved business to become operational, usable and sustainable without unnecessary delay, duplication or control failure.
Client Group
The wider enterprise or customer relationship comprising related entities that the bank recognises and manages collectively while retaining entity-level identity and regulatory obligations.
Client Lifecycle
The progression of a client or entity through prospecting, onboarding, maintenance, review, event-driven change, exit, archival and, where relevant, re-onboarding.
Client Lifecycle Management
The capability through which a bank maintains the validity, scope and permissions of client relationships over time so that core banking activities can operate safely, consistently and at scale.
Client Network Risk
Risk arising from the relationships, dependencies and connections between a client, its related entities, counterparties, markets and the bank.
Commercial Gate
A business decision point used to determine whether establishing or continuing a relationship is commercially justified before significant lifecycle effort or cost is incurred.
Concurrency
The ability to manage multiple simultaneous lifecycle activities affecting the same entity or relationship without creating conflicting changes, duplicated work or loss of control.
Contract
A legally binding agreement governing defined rights and obligations. Within the CLM model used on this site, a contract operates within a business arrangement and wider business relationship.
Control Effectiveness
The extent to which a control achieves its intended purpose in practice, rather than merely existing as a documented requirement.
Counterparty
A role performed by an entity that enters into a transaction, contract or financial exposure with the bank or another party.
Counter-Terrorist Financing
The laws, regulations, controls and activities intended to prevent, detect and disrupt the provision, collection or movement of funds or other resources for terrorist purposes.
Customer
The wider enterprise or client group served by the bank. Regulatory processes such as KYC may operate at entity level even where the commercial customer relationship spans many entities.
D
Data Lineage
The traceable path showing where data originated, how it has been transformed or enriched, where it is stored and where it is subsequently used.
Data Owner
The business role accountable for the meaning, required quality, permitted use and governance of a defined set of data.
Data Quality
The degree to which data is accurate, complete, consistent, timely, valid and fit for its intended business and control purposes.
Data Steward
The role responsible for the day-to-day management, definition, documentation and quality of data in accordance with the requirements established by the data owner and wider governance framework.
Design Authority
A governance body responsible for maintaining architectural and conceptual integrity by reviewing and deciding material design questions and exceptions.
Downstream Platform
A system that consumes information originating from CLM, entity management or another upstream source in order to support banking, control, reporting or market activity.
E
Enhanced Due Diligence
Additional due diligence applied where higher risk or particular regulatory circumstances require a deeper level of investigation, corroboration, approval or ongoing monitoring than standard due diligence.
Entity
A uniquely identifiable real-world participant represented independently of the roles it performs or the relationships in which it participates. Examples include legal persons, branches and funds.
Entity Management
The capability for identifying, creating, maintaining, linking and governing unique representations of real-world entities across their lifecycle.
Entity–Role–Relationship
A modelling approach that separates who or what the participant is from the capacity in which it acts and the relationship or arrangement in which that participation occurs.
Enterprise Exposure
The bank's aggregated exposure to an entity, client group, market participant or connected network across products, businesses, legal entities and locations.
Enterprise Participation Architecture
A model for understanding how real-world participants are represented, identified, permissioned and connected to business activity across the enterprise.
Exit
The controlled termination of all or part of a client, entity or business relationship, including the withdrawal of relevant permissions and enablement.
F
Financial Crime
Criminal or prohibited activity involving financial systems or services, including money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, fraud, bribery, corruption and related offences.
First-Pass Quality
The proportion of lifecycle work completed correctly without requiring avoidable rework, clarification or remediation.
Flow Stability
The degree to which lifecycle work progresses predictably through the operating model without excessive queues, blockages, rework or volatility.
Front Office
The business functions responsible for originating, managing and developing client relationships and revenue-generating activity. Within CLM, the Front Office also has important responsibilities for maintaining the continuing validity of the client relationship.
G
Global Product Taxonomy
A common enterprise classification of products that allows products offered through different platforms or locations to be consistently understood, controlled and mapped to risk requirements.
Governance
The structures, decision rights, accountabilities and forums through which a capability is directed, controlled and changed.
I
Identifier
A value used to distinguish or reference a particular entity, arrangement, account, role or other defined object. The meaning of an identifier depends on the object and context to which it is anchored.
Identifier Registry
A controlled record of identifiers and their relationships to the entities, arrangements or other objects they identify, including their source, status and lifecycle.
Issuer
An entity acting in the role of issuing a security or other financial instrument. An issuer may be relevant to the bank without being a client of the bank.
K
Know Your Client
The processes through which a bank establishes and maintains sufficient knowledge of a client, the entities involved, their ownership and control, the nature and purpose of the relationship, and the associated risks. The term is commonly used interchangeably with Know Your Customer.
Know Your Customer
The processes through which a bank establishes and maintains sufficient knowledge of a customer or relevant entity to determine whether a relationship is acceptable and can continue. The term is commonly used interchangeably with Know Your Client.
KYC Population
The subset of entities that are subject to KYC requirements. Not every entity represented within an enterprise entity model necessarily belongs to the KYC population.
L
Legal Entity
An organisation or other body recognised by law as having a distinct legal existence. Legal entity is one type of entity within a wider enterprise entity model.
Lifecycle Event
A change or occurrence requiring information, permissions, relationships or controls to be assessed or updated. Examples include ownership changes, new products, restructures, regulatory changes and client exits.
Lifecycle Management
The continuous management of an object from creation or entry through change, continued use and eventual closure or retirement.
M
Maintenance
Lifecycle activity used to keep entity, client, relationship, arrangement and control information current between onboarding and exit.
Mastering
Establishing and maintaining an authoritative representation of data or an object so that other systems can consistently reference and consume it.
N
Non-client Entity
An entity that the bank needs to identify or manage for business, market, risk or operational purposes but with which it does not have a client relationship. Examples may include issuers, agents or other market participants.
O
Onboarding
The controlled process of establishing an entity, client or relationship so that approved business can begin. It may include identification, due diligence, risk assessment, documentation, permissions and operational enablement.
Operating Model
The practical arrangement of people, processes, data, technology, controls, governance and responsibilities through which a capability operates.
Orchestration
The coordination of activities, decisions, dependencies and work across multiple teams and systems so that a lifecycle outcome is achieved coherently.
P
Periodic Review
A scheduled reassessment of an entity or client relationship to confirm that information, risk assessments and the basis for continuing the relationship remain valid.
Politically Exposed Person
An individual who is, or has been, entrusted with a prominent public function and who may therefore require additional financial-crime risk assessment and controls. Depending on applicable requirements, relevant family members and close associates may also fall within the scope of PEP controls.
Product
A defined banking, markets or financial service offered or supported by the bank. A product may have different local or platform representations that need to map to a common taxonomy.
Product Permission
The recorded authority for a client, entity or arrangement to access or conduct a particular product or class of business.
Product Taxonomy
A structured classification of products used to create a common understanding across platforms, locations, risk models and business processes.
Publication and Distribution
The controlled provision of authoritative data from its source or master to downstream systems and consumers that require it.
R
Re-onboarding
The controlled re-establishment of an entity or relationship that has previously exited or become inactive, taking account of what information and approvals remain valid.
Reference Data
Standardised data used consistently across systems and processes to classify, interpret or constrain other data. Examples include country, currency, legal-form and product classifications.
Regulatory Classification
The classification of an entity, relationship or activity according to regulatory rules so that the appropriate obligations, permissions, restrictions and controls can be applied.
Relationship
A defined connection involving an entity and another party within a particular context. A relationship is distinct from both the entity itself and the role it performs.
Relationship Manager
A Front Office role responsible for managing the commercial relationship with a client and, within CLM, helping maintain the continuing accuracy and relevance of information about that relationship.
Risk Acceptance Period
The period during which an existing risk assessment or approval remains valid, subject to defined conditions and event-driven requirements.
Risk Data Integrity
The degree to which information relied upon for risk decisions remains complete, accurate, consistent and appropriately connected to the entities and relationships it describes.
Role
The capacity in which an entity participates in a particular context. Examples include counterparty, issuer, broker, agent, arranger or investment manager.
S
Sanctions
Legal or regulatory restrictions imposed by governments or international authorities on dealings with specified countries, territories, entities, individuals, activities or assets. Banks must identify where such restrictions apply and prevent or control prohibited activity.
Sanctions Screening
The process of comparing clients, entities, individuals, transactions or other relevant information against applicable sanctions lists and restrictions to identify potential matches requiring review or action.
Screening
The comparison of entities, persons or other relevant information against sanctions, watchlists, adverse information or other defined risk sources.
Settlement Instruction
Information specifying how a financial transaction is to be settled. Settlement instructions should be connected to the appropriate entity and business context rather than treated as standalone data.
Source of Funds
The origin of the particular funds or assets involved in a transaction or business relationship.
Source of Wealth
The origin of an individual's or entity's overall accumulated wealth and the activities or circumstances through which that wealth was generated.
Static Data
Relatively stable reference or descriptive information required to support business and operational activity. The term does not imply that the information never changes.
System of Record
The authoritative system responsible for maintaining a defined record or data object for a particular purpose. A system may be the system of record for some information without being authoritative for everything associated with a client or entity.
T
Trading Account
An operational container or identifier used to enable or organise trading activity. It should remain connected to the entity and business arrangement that justify its existence.
Trigger
An event, change or condition that causes a lifecycle process, control or reassessment to begin.
Trigger Review
A review initiated because a defined event or material change has occurred rather than because a scheduled review date has been reached.
U
Ultimate Beneficial Owner
The natural person or persons who ultimately own or control an entity or arrangement, directly or indirectly, according to the applicable legal or regulatory definition.
Unique Entity Identifier
The enterprise identifier used to represent one unique entity instance consistently across the organisation and connect that entity to other identifiers and business activity.
Utilisation
The proportion of available capacity that is being consumed by current work. Very high utilisation can reduce an organisation's ability to absorb variability, resolve problems and improve the system itself.
V
Venue Identifier
An identifier used to represent a participant or account within a trading venue, market infrastructure or similar external environment. It should be mapped back to the entity and business context it enables.