Coconut Spec Document

Task Type: “Categorization”

Summary of Task
● In this task, you will be presented with snippets (short paragraphs) extracted from news articles mentioning a
specific company or organisation . Review the snippet to determine whether the organisation indicated by the
"Subject Name" field, or one of its senior leadership is currently or was in the past suspected of, accused of or
charged with being involved in some illegal activity, insolvency or breaking some regulation . We refer to such
organisations as negative/adverse organisations.

Rules and Tips:

● Do This: Look for any news that indicates that the subject is a criminal, or is involved in a serious issue that may
lead to the subject being convicted. Good indicators are when a subject is under investigation, accused, indicted,
suspected, found guilty, pleading not guilty, acquitted, in trial, is under investigation for .Only consider news that
relates to the listed organisation.If the crime mentioned is towards the head of a company/organisation (CEO,
senior management position), then this company/organisation should also be considered negative. Ambiguous
snippets that are not clearly negative should be marked as not negative. Snippets that are clearly negative, but
unclear for which category, should be marked as Other Minor .

● Be Careful Of: News that doesn't fall into any of the listed categories, or does not explicitly indicate connection to
a crime. These may appear negative in sentiment, but should not be marked negative. Negative news that applies
to a company/organisation that is not the listed subject.Often times, the snippets will contain multiple
company/organisation names. We are only interested in negative news that applies to the listed subject. News
that connects the subject with the crime, but not in a negative way. If HSBC is the subject, and the snippet is
"HSBC has offices in location of the recent genocide in Africa", this does not negatively connect HSBC to the crime,
and thus is not negative news about HSBC. Sentences are extracted automatically, and may result in jumbled, run-
on paragraphs. Avoid marking the sentence as negative if you feel that the negative context does not apply to the
subject. Do your best to assess the listed subject within the context of the snippet.

● Don't Do This: Don't use any context outside of the snippet provided. You may have knowledge that a mentioned
subject is associated with illegal activities. However, only use what is stated in the snippet to make your decisions.
Don't select 'Yes' if the negative news pertains to a name in the snippet that is not the named subject. Don't select
'No' if the subject is not actually a company/organisational name. Instead select 'Not an organisation name' City
names, animal names, names of people, etc. are not company/organisation, and should be marked as 'Not an
organisation'.

Contents
● Labels & Descriptions Table
● Labels/Examples
● Common Errors

Labels & Description Table

Labels Description
Property Topics involving the unlawful taking of property, including
money and intellectual property (piracy / copyright
infringement). Includes theft, burglary, and possession of
stolen property. Also includes embezzlement,
misappropriation, larceny.

Financial AML CFT Financial topics related to AML/CFT, that are not explicitly
property crime. Includes money laundering, tax related
offences (but excludes tax avoidance ), and insider trading.

Fraud Linked Fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful

gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Specific topics
include fraud (corporate, VAT, identity, etc.), scams,
counterfeiting, and forgery, misrepresentation.

Narcotics AML CFT All producing, trafficking, distribution, and dealing of

narcotics (drugs) - will be linked to AML as a predicate
offence. Does NOT include drug usage or possession.

Violence AML CFT Serious violence related topics that are relevant to
financial institutions. Excludes non predicate offences
(assault, most sexual crimes) but does include murder and
grievous bodily harm. Includes topics where violence is
implied and/or there are AML implications:coercion,
kidnapping; human trafficking; child pornography; illegal
arms / weapons possession / trading; pimping; slavery.

Terrorism All terrorisms related topics including attacks, financing,

membership, and aiding. Includes all forms of terrorism -
religious, political (left & right wing), state.

Cyber Security Related to computer related topics and crime, in particular

illegal access to information systems; system interference;
data interference; interception. Does not include topics
only because computers are involved (such as fraud), but
only topics where it is specifically computer/cyber related.

General AML CFT Includes major topics related to AML and CFT. Different
from the "Other" categories. Topics include: Smuggling
(goods & migrants); organised crime and gang activity,
racketeering; corruption and bribery; environmental
crimes including poaching and polluting.

Regulatory Topics that relate to activity that contravenes regulation -

often this is specific to particular country or state or
industry. Includes: Fines or disciplinary action by
regulators and industry bodies; collusion / anti-trust /
price-fixing issues; specific entities that have been denied
by industry bodies and regulators; specific industry related
issues such as front-running, greenmail, and churning for
 the stock market, or illegal gambling, securities-violations,
business crimes.

Financial Difficulty Topics where the subject is mentioned in the context of

bankruptcy, having a high amount of debt, or experiencing
fatal business issues.

Violence Non AML CFT Violence related topics that are not predicate offences for
AML/CFT - everything violence related that is not specified
in the "Violence AML/CFT". Includes assault, battery,
domestic violence & physical abuse, harassment, rape &
sex offences. Also includes some state level topics such as
massacres, human rights abuses, torture, and genocide.

Other Financial Non AML/CFT related financial topics such as predatory

lending, questionable billing practices, creative
accounting, and loan sharking.

Other Serious Potentially serious topics that are not AML/CFT related.
Many different topics include such as perjury, arson,
obstruction of justice, escaped fugitives, malpractice in
elections, spying & espionage, treason, civil disorder /
rebellions.

Other Minor Other minor topics and difficult to classify topics that do
not fall into any of the other classes. Includes things like
drugs possession, prostitution, misconduct, petty theft,
breach of bail, parole violation, false advertising,
conspiracy to commit a crime where the crime is not
specified, vandalism, drink driving / DUI (driving under the
influence), and commercial litigation between entities.
May also include some more general corporate related
topics like human resources issues / labour disputes, and
health & safety.

Labels /Examples

Labels Example

Label: Not Adverse Subject: Oud Beersel

Reason: There is no Snippet : "Veterans of the craft beer industry, they teamed up with Belgian brewery Oud
adverse or negative
Beersel to buy Magnolia out of bankruptcy .”
context about Oud Beersel

Label: Adverse - Financial Subject: Magnolia

 Difficulties
Snippet : "Veterans of the craft beer industry, they teamed up with Belgian brewery Oud
Reason: Magnolia is Beersel to buy Magnolia out of bankruptcy ."
mentioned as being close
to bankruptcy, so it should
be "Financial Difficulties "

Label: Adverse - Subject: Standard Chartered Securities

Regulatory
Snippet: "Standard Chartered Securities in Hong Kong (formerly known as Cazenove Asia)
Reason: Standard was fined HK$59.7m "for failing to discharge its obligations as one of the joint sponsors"
Chartered Securities was for China Forestry's listing application in 2009."
fined for "failing to
discharge its
obligations...", this is a
regulation contravention
and should be classified as
"Regulatory ""

Common Errors

Commonly Confused Categories:

Please pay extra attention to the following topics that are commonly confused:

1. Murder, assassination goes in Violence AML/CFT. This includes killing for money, involvement in gang murders,
serial killing, etc. May involve killing more than one person but excludes killing a very large number of people in
the context of massacres, explained more clearly below.
2. Massacre, mass murder goes in Violence Non AML CFT. This involves the act of murdering a large number of
people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity (e.g,
war situations) . But please note that when this is done as part of a terrorist act, it needs to be marked terrorism.
3. Conspiracy to commit a crime goes in the category of the crime; however, if the crime is not specified, use Other
Minor.
4. Civil disorder (Other Serious) - also known as civil disturbance or civil unrest, civil disorder is an activity arising
from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, rebellion, riot, or strike) in which the participants
become hostile toward authority, and authorities incur difficulties in maintaining public safety and order, over the
disorderly crowd.
5. Drug trafficking goes into Narcotics.
6. Drug usage or possession goes into Other Minor.
7. Human rights abuses are under Violence Non AML CFT.
8. Sexual slavery is under Violence AML/CFT.
Edge Case How to Handle It Example