Politically exposed person (PEP)
Someone holding a prominent public office, whom banks and payment firms must scrutinise more closely than other customers under anti-money-laundering rules.
The concept entered the FATF recommendations in 2003, after a string of scandals in which dictators had moved national treasuries into accounts in London and Zurich. It covers heads of state, ministers, members of parliament, senior judges, central bank leadership and executives of state-owned companies, plus their family members and known close associates. The EU extended the rules to domestic politicians in 2015, and the status lasts for at least a year after leaving office.
Being a PEP is not grounds for suspicion. It triggers enhanced due diligence: establishing where the money comes from, sign-off from senior management and tighter ongoing monitoring. In practice banks run their customer lists against commercial PEP databases and mostly turn up local councillors wondering why opening a savings account took three weeks.