External Vendor KYC/KYB Verification

Overview

Banks and financial institutions must perform KYC/KYB on customers before they can move money. These US-regulated programs require data collection, disclosures, identity verification, and ongoing monitoring. While Synctera offers an integrated KYC/KYB option, fintechs may instead use an external vendor — provided the sponsor bank approves it before go-live. When using an external vendor, you run the checks with your vendor and then submit the vendor’s response to Synctera through the Create Verification API for each customer or business. This lets Synctera monitor overall risk and approve or reject the customer. Key characteristics:

Vendor-run, Synctera-recorded — your vendor performs the checks; you record the results in Synctera.
Result-driven — each submission carries an overall result; a customer must reach ACCEPTED to move money.
Typed — submit one request per verification type (identity, watchlist, document verification, etc.).
Detailed — the details object conveys attribute-level outcomes for Synctera’s risk team to review.

Updates as of October 31, 2024

Synctera requires certain fields on the persons and businesses APIs (see step 2 of the process). Review Required fields for external KYC/KYB vendors below — missing fields may cause the customer to fail KYC/KYB.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes you have:

Created a personal customer or business customer
Recorded a KYC data collection disclosure
Identified a KYC/KYB vendor and had it approved by your sponsor bank
Integrated the vendor into your onboarding workflow

You should also be familiar with:

The personal customer and business customer guides cover creating a customer and collecting disclosures; complete these before calling the Create Verification API.

The external vendor process

Enroll the customer

The customer enrolls with your fintech, and you call the person or business API to enroll them with Synctera.

Record disclosures

The customer acknowledges KYC/KYB and other disclosures, and you record the acknowledgement with the disclosure API.

Run vendor checks

Submit the customer’s details to your KYC/KYB vendor. The vendor responds indicating whether the customer passed or failed, with attribute-level detail.

Submit the vendor response to Synctera

Submit the vendor’s response with the Create Verification API, including the verification type, overall result, and details.

Review and approve

Synctera or your team reviews the vendor’s response and approves the customer, who can then create an account.

The verification request

Fintechs may request multiple categories of KYC/KYB checks from their vendor (watchlist, document verification, identity, and more). Submit each as its own Create Verification request with the relevant result, verification_type, and details.

Result

The overall outcome returned by the vendor. A customer must reach ACCEPTED to move money and perform most transactions.

Result	Meaning
`UNVERIFIED`	No verification exists.
`PENDING`	Verification is in progress.
`PROVISIONAL`	Partially verified or verified with restrictions.
`ACCEPTED`	The customer is verified.
`REVIEW`	Verification ran and identified issues requiring review.
`VENDOR_ERROR`	Verification did not run due to an unexpected error or failure.
`REJECTED`	The customer was rejected and should be blocked from certain actions (e.g. opening an account).

Verification type

Indicates the type of check performed. Submit one request per type.

Type	Description
`IDENTITY`	Confirms the provided information matches a real person or business (name, DOB, SSN, etc.).
`WATCHLIST`	Checks the customer against watchlists for fraud, money laundering, and suspicious activity.
`DOCUMENT_VERIFICATION`	Verifies the authenticity of a document such as a driver’s license or passport.
`RELATED_ENTITIES`	Dependent checks for related parties (e.g. all beneficial owners must pass KYC for a business to pass KYB).
`MANUAL_REVIEW`	The outcome of a manual review; overrides the outcome of other verification types.

Details object

Conveys the vendor’s attribute-level responses for Synctera’s risk team. Provide as much detail as possible.

Field	Description
`category`	The type of data in the object (e.g. `CIP`, `ADDRESS`, `WATCHLIST`, `DOC_VERIFICATION`).
`description`	Human-readable outcome (e.g. “Individual not found on US OFAC watchlist”).
`result`	`PASS`, `WARN`, or `FAIL`.
`score`	Numeric score from the vendor for the category.
`url`	URL from the vendor pertaining to the category.
`vendor_code`	Any code provided by the vendor.

Examples

Document verification

Describe which document was examined, whether there was forgery, and whether extraction succeeded — adjust to your vendor’s response.

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  https://api.synctera.com/v0/verifications \
  --data-binary '
  {
    "person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9",
    "result": "ACCEPTED",
    "verification_type": "DOCUMENT_VERIFICATION",
    "verification_time": "2024-10-07T12:00:00Z",
    "details": [
      { "category": "DOC_VERIFICATION", "description": "No evidence of tampering or forgery", "result": "PASS" },
      { "category": "DOC_DETAILS", "description": "Received passport as supporting documentation", "result": "PASS" },
      { "category": "DOC_DETAILS", "description": "Successful OCR extraction of document number, expiration date, and nationality", "result": "PASS" }
    ],
    "vendor_info": {
      "vendor": "Synctera",
      "content_type": "application/json",
      "json": { "key1": "value1", "key2": "value2" }
    }
  }'

Watchlist

Highlight results for primary watchlists (OFAC, PEP); group any remaining watchlists into a single details object.

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  https://api.synctera.com/v0/verifications \
  --data-binary '
  {
    "person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9",
    "result": "ACCEPTED",
    "verification_type": "WATCHLIST",
    "verification_time": "2024-10-07T12:00:00Z",
    "details": [
      { "category": "WATCHLIST", "description": "Individual not found on any watchlists", "result": "PASS", "vendor_code": "I708", "url": "www.synctera.com" },
      { "category": "WATCHLIST", "description": "Individual not found on US OFAC watchlist", "result": "PASS", "vendor_code": "I708" },
      { "category": "WATCHLIST", "description": "Individual not found on any PEP watchlists", "result": "PASS", "vendor_code": "I708" }
    ],
    "vendor_info": {
      "vendor": "Synctera",
      "content_type": "application/json",
      "json": { "key1": "value1", "key2": "value2" }
    }
  }'

Identity

Describe which attributes (name, address, SSN, email) were checked and the outcome.

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  https://api.synctera.com/v0/verifications \
  --data-binary '
  {
    "person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9",
    "result": "ACCEPTED",
    "verification_type": "IDENTITY",
    "verification_time": "2024-10-07T12:00:00Z",
    "details": [
      { "category": "CIP", "description": "Individual's provided documentation was verified successfully.", "result": "PASS", "vendor_code": "I708" },
      { "category": "ADDRESS", "description": "Address can be resolved to the individual", "result": "PASS", "vendor_code": "I708" },
      { "category": "EMAIL", "description": "Email address is more than 1 year and less than 2 years old", "result": "PASS", "vendor_code": "I708" }
    ],
    "vendor_info": {
      "vendor": "Synctera",
      "content_type": "application/json",
      "json": { "key1": "value1", "key2": "value2" }
    }
  }'

More `details` object examples

The following snippets show the details object across common outcomes:

// Individual found on one or more watchlists
{ "category": "WATCHLIST", "description": "Individual found on 1 or more watchlists", "result": "WARN", "url": "www.synctera.com", "vendor_code": "I708" }

// Individual found on US OFAC watchlist
{ "category": "WATCHLIST", "description": "Individual found on US OFAC watchlist", "result": "WARN", "vendor_code": "I708" }

// Individual found on PEP watchlist
{ "category": "WATCHLIST", "description": "Individual found on PEP watchlists", "result": "WARN", "vendor_code": "I708" }

// Evidence of tampering or forgery
{ "category": "DOC_VERIFICATION", "description": "Evidence of tampering or forgery", "result": "WARN", "vendor_code": "I708" }

// Driver's license received
{ "category": "DOC_DETAILS", "description": "Received license as supporting documentation", "result": "PASS" }

// Failed OCR extraction
{ "category": "DOC_DETAILS", "description": "Failed OCR extraction of name, dob, sex, and country", "result": "WARN", "url": "www.synctera.com" }

// Selfie capture success
{ "category": "SELFIE_CAPTURE", "description": "Successfully matched selfie to document portrait", "result": "PASS", "score": 100 }

// Selfie capture failed
{ "category": "SELFIE_CAPTURE", "description": "Selfie failed to match to document portrait", "result": "WARN" }

// Customer info matched OCR data
{ "category": "DOC_DETAILS", "description": "Successfully matched customer information to OCR extracted data fields", "result": "PASS" }

// Customer info failed to match OCR data
{ "category": "DOC_DETAILS", "description": "Failed to match customer information to OCR extracted data fields name, dob, sex and country", "result": "WARN" }

// Customer info matched third-party services
{ "category": "CIP", "description": "Individual's provided documentation was verified successfully.", "result": "PASS" }

// Address could not be matched
{ "category": "ADDRESS", "description": "Address cannot be resolved to individual", "result": "WARN" }

Required fields for external KYC/KYB vendors

As of October 31, 2024, more stringent sponsor bank requirements make the following fields required. Provide them, or the customer may fail KYC/KYB. Personal customers (see the persons API and persons guide):

Field	Notes
`dob`
`email` / `phone`	At least one is required.
`first_name`
`last_name`
`legal_address`	address line 1, city, state, postal code, country.
`shipping_address`	address line 1, city, state, postal code, country.
`personal_ids`	type, id, and country code.

Business customers (see the businesses API):

Field	Notes
`ein`	Not required for sole proprietors.
`email` / `phone`	At least one is required.
`entity_name`
`legal_address`	address line 1, city, state, postal code, country. PO Box is not acceptable.

Best practices

A customer must reach an overall result of ACCEPTED before they can move money or open accounts. Submit the vendor response promptly and provide rich details so Synctera’s risk team can review thoroughly.

Get sponsor-bank approval first — external vendors must be approved before go-live.
Submit one request per type — send separate Create Verification calls for identity, watchlist, and document verification.
Maximize detail — include as many details objects as the vendor returns; richer data speeds review.
Provide the required fields — supply all October 2024 required person/business fields to avoid KYC/KYB failures.

Create a Personal Customer

Enroll a person before submitting vendor results.

Create a Business Customer

Enroll a business before submitting vendor results.

KYC/KYB Verification

Compare with Synctera’s integrated verification.

Record Disclosure Acceptance

Capture the KYC data collection disclosure.

Overview

Onboard a personal customer

Onboard a business customer

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Platform Tools

External Vendor KYC/KYB Verification

Overview

Updates as of October 31, 2024

Prerequisites

The external vendor process

The verification request

Result

Verification type

Details object

Examples

Document verification

Watchlist

Identity

More `details` object examples

Required fields for external KYC/KYB vendors

Best practices

Create a Personal Customer

Create a Business Customer

KYC/KYB Verification

Record Disclosure Acceptance

API reference

​Overview

​Updates as of October 31, 2024

​Prerequisites

​The external vendor process

​The verification request

​Result

​Verification type

​Details object

​Examples

​Document verification

​Watchlist

​Identity

​More details object examples

​Required fields for external KYC/KYB vendors

​Best practices

​Related guides

Create a Personal Customer

Create a Business Customer

KYC/KYB Verification

Record Disclosure Acceptance

​API reference

Overview

Updates as of October 31, 2024

Prerequisites

The external vendor process

The verification request

Result

Verification type

Details object

Examples

Document verification

Watchlist

Identity

More `details` object examples

Required fields for external KYC/KYB vendors

Best practices

Related guides

API reference