Customer Onboarding

Verify a customer’s identity and screen them for sanctions, PEPs, and adverse media in a single API call.

Onboarding a new customer typically requires two separate steps: verify who they are, then check whether they appear on any watchlists. The Customer Onboarding API does both in a single call — you send a country and an ID number, and the API returns a verified identity, AML screening results, and a consolidated decision of pass, review, or fail.

Verify Customer

Submit a country and identifier to receive a verified identity and AML screening result in one response.

Settings

Configure which steps — identity verification and AML screening — run for your branch.

How It Works

1. Submit a country and identifier

   Send the customer’s country and ID number. The API automatically selects the correct document type for that country — no need to specify it unless you want to override the default.

2. Identity is verified

   The API verifies the identifier against the relevant government or bureau database and extracts the customer’s verified name.

3. Name is screened for AML

   The verified name is run against global sanctions lists and PEP databases. If identity verification failed and no name was returned, screening is skipped and a note is included in the response.

4. A decision is returned

   Based on the combined IVS and AML result, the API returns a decision of pass, review, or fail. The raw identity and screening data are always included so you can build your own logic on top.

Decision Guide

The decision field is the primary signal your system should act on:

Decision	Risk level	What it means	Recommended action
pass	Low	Identity verified. No sanctions or PEP matches found.	Proceed with onboarding.
review	Medium	Identity verified, but a PEP or elevated-risk match was found.	Hold onboarding. Route to a compliance officer for manual review before proceeding.
fail	High / unverifiable	Identity could not be verified or a high-risk match was found.	Do not onboard. Decline or escalate per your compliance policy.

A review decision does not mean block the customer. It means onboarding should pause for human review before a final call is made. Automatically declining all review cases may exclude legitimate customers who are PEPs but present no actual risk.

Supported Countries

Country	Default identifier	Supported overrides
nigeria	bvn	bvn, nin, vnin
kenya	national_id	national_id
ghana	ghana_id	ghana_id
uganda	national_id	national_id
rwanda	national_id	national_id