Allowlist and Denylist

Allowlists and denylists are policy controlled lists that influence decisioning. Allowlists permit trusted entities or behaviors to bypass certain checks, while denylists block known bad actors, devices, accounts, or patterns. In compliance and fraud, lists are used to manage edge cases, partner traffic, or confirmed abuse. Governance must prevent misuse by requiring approvals, expiry dates, scope limits, and reason codes. Technical controls include versioning, audit logs, and automated reviews to remove stale entries. Lists should never replace core risk scoring or screenings. Instead they act as surgical overrides that reduce false positives or quickly stop active abuse. Done well, they improve operational efficiency and analyst productivity without creating blind spots or unfair outcomes.