How Do I Read Risk Scores?
Every case in Zenoo has a risk assessment that scores the entity across four dimensions. Understanding these scores helps you prioritize your workload, apply the right level of due diligence, and justify your decisions to auditors.What you’ll learn
- What the four risk dimensions are
- How scores and tiers are calculated
- How to read the risk assessment panel
- When and how to apply an override
- How risk scores change as you resolve alerts
The four risk dimensions
Zenoo follows the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) methodology for risk assessment. Every entity is scored across four dimensions:| Dimension | What it measures | Example risk factors |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | Who is this entity? | PEP status, sanctions matches, adverse media, complex ownership structures |
| Geographic | Where does this entity operate? | High-risk jurisdictions, FATF grey/black list countries, EU high-risk third countries |
| Product/Service | What products or services are involved? | Cash-intensive businesses, anonymous transactions, high-value products |
| Transaction | How does this entity transact? | Unusual patterns, cross-border flows, structuring, rapid movement of funds |
- A score from 0 to 100
- A tier: High (70-100), Medium (40-69), or Low (0-39)
- A list of risk factors explaining what contributed to the score
How is the overall risk calculated?
The overall risk tier uses a highest-dimension-wins approach:| Scenario | Overall tier |
|---|---|
| Any dimension is High | High |
| No dimension is High, but any is Medium | Medium |
| All dimensions are Low | Low |
This is deliberately conservative. A single high-risk dimension (e.g., a PEP match pushing Customer risk to High) elevates the entire case to High risk, regardless of how low the other dimensions score.
How do I read the risk panel?
The risk assessment panel appears on the case detail view. It shows:Overall risk badge
At the top, a large badge shows the overall tier (High, Medium, or Low) with its color code:
- High — red badge
- Medium — amber badge
- Low — green badge
Dimension breakdown
Below the overall badge, four horizontal bars show each dimension:
- Bar fill — proportional to the score (0-100)
- Tier label — High, Medium, or Low
- Score — the numeric value
Risk factors list
Each dimension’s expanded view shows a bulleted list of risk factors. For example, the Customer dimension might show:
- “PEP Match: Senior government official”
- “Adverse media: 3 articles related to fraud investigation”
- “Complex corporate structure with multiple layers”
Action items
Below the dimension breakdown, the panel shows recommended actions based on the risk tier:
- High risk — Enhanced Due Diligence required, senior reviewer approval needed, additional documentation required
- Medium risk — Standard review, consider additional checks
- Low risk — Standard review, routine processing
How do I apply an override?
Sometimes you have context that the automated risk assessment does not capture. You can override the risk tier:- Click Override on the risk assessment panel
- Select the new tier (High, Medium, or Low)
- Write a justification explaining why you are overriding the calculated tier
- Click Apply Override
How do risk scores change during a case?
Risk scores are recalculated when:- An alert is resolved — removing a high-severity alert can reduce the corresponding dimension score
- A new assessment is created — a fresh assessment using the current model rules replaces the previous one
- An override is applied — the override tier becomes the effective tier