Maker-checker (four-eyes principle)

Maker-checker (four-eyes principle) explained

Also called the four-eyes principle, maker-checker means no single person can complete a sensitive action alone. The maker creates or proposes the entry, the checker reviews and either approves or rejects it, and the system records both identities and the time.

It protects against both error and fraud. A mistyped payment amount, a wrongly dismissed sanctions hit or an unjustified change to a risk rating is caught by the second pair of eyes before it does harm.

For example, an analyst who concludes that a screening hit is a false positive proposes the dismissal; a senior reviewer confirms it before the customer is cleared.

Why it matters in life insurance

Zambian regulators expect sensitive AML decisions, such as clearing a possible sanctions match or closing a case without a report, to be dual-controlled and evidenced. ERMAML, the Ontech Risk & Compliance Suite, enforces maker-checker on screening dispositions, case closures and STR submissions and records each step in a tamper-evident audit trail.

Related terms

False positive (screening) · Three lines of defence · STR (suspicious transaction report)