The U.S. Department of Commerce’s BIS has made a decisive move to strengthen export control enforcement by closing loopholes that allowed sanctioned entities to operate through affiliates and shell companies.
According to Quantifind, through its new Interim Final Rule, announced on 29 September 2025, the BIS has aligned its Entity List and Military End User (MEU) List with the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC 50% Rule. This means any entity that is 50% or more owned, directly or indirectly, by a listed party now falls under the same restrictions.
The rule marks a critical shift from name-based to ownership-based enforcement, significantly expanding compliance obligations for exporters, financial institutions, and multinational corporations. Traditional screening tools have long struggled to identify indirect or obscured ownership structures. Many sanctioned parties mask control through layered subsidiaries or offshore vehicles, leaving firms exposed to compliance breaches.
Artificial intelligence is proving vital in closing this visibility gap. Quantifind’s AI-driven platform integrates entity resolution, beneficial ownership mapping, and real-time monitoring to uncover links that would otherwise remain hidden. The company’s technology helps compliance teams detect and mitigate ownership-based risks before they lead to regulatory exposure.
The BIS estimates the new regulation could impact thousands of subsidiaries across nearly 100 countries—many of which appear unrelated to sanctioned entities at first glance. To remain compliant, organisations must now be able to detect indirect and aggregate ownership structures, identify co-owned entities that collectively cross the 50% threshold, and monitor continuous ownership changes across global networks. Given the complexity and fragmentation of international corporate records, doing this manually is virtually impossible.
Quantifind enables businesses to operationalise the BIS 50% Rule through its suite of AI-powered tools. Its proprietary Name Science™ and Entity Resolution technology links entities across inconsistent or incomplete datasets, revealing when subsidiaries, affiliates, or shell companies are connected to listed individuals or organisations.
Its Beneficial Ownership Mapping capability visualises ownership hierarchies, aggregating percentages across multiple stakeholders to flag when cumulative ownership meets or exceeds the 50% limit. The platform also identifies co-ownership scenarios that could create indirect sanctions exposure under OFAC and BIS rules.
To supplement structured data, Quantifind uses natural language processing and machine learning to analyse unstructured intelligence such as media reports, public filings, and regulatory disclosures. This approach exposes relationships missed by conventional registry-based checks.
Each entity is assigned an explainable risk score based on ownership, affiliations, and proximity to sanctioned parties, with automated alerts triggered when ownership changes approach regulatory thresholds. Continuous monitoring ensures risk profiles remain up to date, helping compliance officers stay ahead of enforcement actions.
Typical use cases include third-party and supplier screening, enhanced KYC processes, vendor due diligence, and real-time monitoring of ownership changes in high-risk sectors or regions. The platform also supports regulatory audits with traceable analytics that demonstrate ownership transparency.
Quantifind views the BIS 50% Rule not as a compliance problem but as a data problem—solvable through explainable AI. By combining structured datasets with unstructured intelligence, its platform delivers a comprehensive picture of beneficial ownership and affiliated risk. The result is faster detection, fewer blind spots, and AI outputs that regulators can validate and trust.
As enforcement broadens, early detection of hidden affiliations will become a key competitive advantage. Quantifind’s technology empowers firms to safeguard trade operations, uphold reputation, and achieve compliance with confidence in an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.
Copyright © 2025 RegTech Analyst
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