Vendor onboarding and KYC

Before a vendor can be paid, they clear onboarding. Onboarding captures identity, compliance, banking, and screens for sanctions.

Workflow

1. Invite — send an onboarding link to the vendor's contact. Link opens a self-serve portal form.
2. Vendor submits — fills legal entity, tax IDs, contacts, uploads certificates, banking.
3. Sanctions screen — auto-run against OFAC, UK HMT, EU consolidated, UN. Hit → compliance review.
4. Document review — compliance checks insurance (valid, adequate limit), IATA / FIATA / ADR endorsements, AEO / C-TPAT if required.
5. Tax validation — VAT / GST number format-check + (where available) VIES / HMRC lookup.
6. Bank validation — penny-test or Stripe / bank-verification API where integrated.
7. Approve — procurement + compliance sign off → vendor goes Active.

Step 1–2 typically takes the vendor an hour; steps 3–7 are ours, typically 1–3 business days.

Required documents

Varies by service type:

• Road subcontractor — insurance (cargo + motor), operator licence, driver licences, vehicle fitness.
• Air / ocean carrier — IATA / FMC / carrier registration, insurance, AEO if applicable.
• Customs broker — customs agent licence per country, AEO, professional indemnity.
• Warehouse partner — insurance (stock + liability), fire safety certification.

Each has expiry; auto-renewal reminders at 60 / 30 / 7 days.

Sanctions screening

Runs at onboarding and re-runs:

• Daily on all active vendors.
• On every payment run (defence in depth).
• On any changes to vendor details.

Any hit blocks transactions until compliance clears.

Rejections

Rejection reasons captured (failed screen, insufficient insurance, incomplete docs). Vendor can resubmit.

Records

All submitted documents, versions, expiry dates, review decisions, screening results live on the vendor record under "Compliance". Immutable audit log.

Ongoing KYC

Annual refresh (or per policy): beneficial ownership changes, new regulations, expiry-driven re-uploads. The platform queues these automatically.