What is an RFI?
A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal process used by Checkout.com to gather additional information from merchants regarding transactions that have triggered alerts during our sanction screening process. This step is crucial to ensure compliance with regulatory obligations and to prevent transactions involving sanctioned entities.
What is a "sanction match”?
When we receive a payment request, we check the information you provide against sanction lists. If some or all the details match a record, it triggers a "sanction match".
Example: If you send a payment to John Smith and there's a John Smith on a sanctions list, it will trigger a match.
Why is an RFI needed?
- Regulatory compliance: Financial service providers like Checkout.com must comply with sanctions regulations. These regulations include verifying that neither the sender nor the recipient of a transaction appears on any sanctions list.
- Accurate screening: When our systems detect a potential match with a sanctioned entity, we must verify the transaction details. If there is insufficient information to dismiss the alert, we request more details from the merchant through an RFI.
- Risk mitigation: An RFI helps us confirm whether a transaction is legitimate or if it should be blocked to prevent prohibited business activities.
RFI process
- An agent will contact you via email to gather the necessary extra information to resolve the alert. The email will be sent from rfi@compliance.checkout.com.
- We will ask you to complete a form with the additional information. The form follows all the modern security protocols, and it is safe to upload sensitive information.
- If you provide the required information promptly, the alert can be dismissed. If not, the transaction may fail manually.
- If you fail to respond to the RFI within the given timelines, our teams will either manually fail the transaction or the funds could be frozen (based on risk). This is why you need to respond to RFIs promptly.