Who counts as a Politically Exposed Person?

Detailed Explanation

A PEP is someone entrusted with a prominent public function — senior politicians, senior government, judicial or military officials, senior executives of state-owned enterprises, and important political party officials. The definition also reaches beyond the individual. Immediate family members and known close associates are typically treated as carrying the same exposure, because they are the obvious route for someone to hold assets at one remove. Exact scope is set by local law and by each institution's own policy, and it changes: people enter and leave public office, so PEP status is a screening obligation that runs for the life of the relationship, not a one-off check at onboarding.