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Check Payment Risk Before Sending Money

Before-payment workflow for counterparty identity, bank control, screening, release triggers, and stop/go evidence.

Step 1

Verify counterparty legal identity, trading name, address, contact authority, and role in the deal.

Decision point: Stop if the party requesting payment cannot be matched to the approved supplier, buyer, agent, or contract counterparty.

Step 2

Match beneficiary name, bank country, account details, SWIFT or IBAN, and payment currency to approved records.

Decision point: Escalate if beneficiary, bank country, account currency, or intermediary bank details differ from onboarding, proforma, PO, or prior approved payments.

Step 3

Screen supplier, buyer, owners where known, beneficiary bank, destination, intermediaries, and shipment route.

Decision point: Do not release funds while sanctions, restricted-party, high-risk country, vessel, port, or bank-route questions remain unresolved.

Step 4

Choose the payment method and risk split: TT deposit/balance, staged payment, LC, D/P, D/A, open account, or escrow.

Decision point: Require stronger controls if the structure gives one side too much performance, document, credit, or recovery risk for the margin at stake.

Step 5

Define payment milestone, release trigger, inspection evidence, shipment evidence, and document-control requirement.

Decision point: Hold payment if the trigger is subjective, unearned, undocumented, or disconnected from production, inspection, loading, documents, or credit approval.

Step 6

Run callback verification and account-change controls using trusted contact details outside the invoice email chain.

Decision point: Stop immediately for new bank details, urgent reroutes, third-country banks, email-domain mismatch, pressure tactics, or refusal to complete callback.

Step 7

Model cash exposure, FX movement, bank fees, finance cost, LC or collection charges, and delay downside.

Decision point: Do not approve terms if downside from non-delivery, dispute, delay, FX, or buyer default exceeds the deal margin or cash tolerance.

Step 8

Save the stop/go decision, approvals, screening evidence, callback record, payment instruction, and dispute path.

Decision point: Release funds only when evidence is stored, approvers are named, exceptions are closed, and the recovery/escalation route is known.

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