Before You Send Money
Check counterparty identity, bank-detail match, screening, and release triggers before a payment ever leaves your account.
For: Anyone at a trading business about to release funds — deposit, balance, or wire — to a supplier, agent, or counterparty.
Use when: A payment is queued and you need a final safety check before it leaves the account. Also the guide to open the moment a supplier 'sends updated bank details'.
- New or changed bank details, especially mid-relationship or 'urgent'.
- The beneficiary name doesn't match the approved supplier or counterparty.
- A third-country or mismatched bank versus the counterparty's country.
- Pressure to bypass process, or an email-domain mismatch.
- The counterparty refuses or can't complete a callback on a trusted number.
- Any sanctions or restricted-party hit on the party, owner, bank, or destination.
- Match the legal entity and trading name
- Confirm the contact's authority
- Confirm their role in this deal
- Tie the payee to the approved counterparty
· Identity
Does the payee match the approved counterparty?
Go — The party matches the approved supplier or counterparty.
Hold — Partial match — verify authority and role first.
Stop — You can't match the party requesting payment.
· Beneficiary match
Do the beneficiary and bank match prior approved payments?
Go — Beneficiary, bank, and currency match onboarding and history.
Hold — A minor discrepancy — verify it through a trusted channel.
Stop — New or changed bank details, or a third-country mismatch.
· Screening
Is the party, bank, and route clear?
Go — Party, owners, bank, and destination are all clear.
Hold — An ambiguous name match — resolve it before proceeding.
Stop — A confirmed hit, or an unresolved high-risk jurisdiction.
· Structure & trigger
Is the method safe and the trigger earned?
Go — The method matches the risk and the release trigger is objective, documented, and earned.
Hold — The trigger is subjective — tie it to inspection or shipment evidence.
Stop — The structure dumps all performance or credit risk on you.
· Final decision
Release the funds?
Go — All gates passed, callback done, evidence stored, and an approver named — RELEASE.
Hold — A gate is on hold — HOLD and resolve it.
Stop — A gate is a stop — STOP; do not pay.
- 1Trusting bank details taken from the invoice email.
- 2Skipping the callback under time pressure.
- 3Paying before the release trigger is actually earned.
- 4Treating a screening false-positive as 'clear' without resolving it.
- 5A single-person release with no second approver.
- 6Not storing the screening, callback, and approval evidence.
'Bank changed — please pay the balance to a new account today.'
- Counterparty identityMatches approved supplier
- Beneficiary bankChanged — new country, new IBAN
- Trigger'Urgent, today'
- Callback on trusted numberSupplier unaware of any change
Decision record
Record your outcome — a static, no-login summary you can copy, print, or screenshot.
- Counterparty verified
- (y/n)
- Beneficiary / bank match
- Against onboarding + history (y/n)
- Screening result
- Sanctions / restricted-party
- Payment method + release trigger
- Earned? (y/n)
- Callback done
- Who / when / channel
- Second approver
- Named
- Decision
- RELEASE / HOLD / STOP
- Evidence stored
- Where the pack lives
- Escalation / recovery path
- If something's wrong