Business partner and customer due diligence
A risk rating for every distributor, dealer, agent and customer before credit, stock or investment flows, and a register you can re-screen as the network changes.
Risk-based OSINT and HUMINT checks on distributors, dealers, customers and agents before credit or investment flows.
Distributors, dealers, agents and large customers receive credit, stock and the right to represent your brand. If one of them is a front for an employee, a shell or a known defaulter, the loss usually surfaces only after the money has gone.
We check partners in proportion to their risk. Ownership is mapped and compared with your employee and vendor records to find hidden links. Premises and operations are verified through open sources and, where the risk warrants it, field visits. Credit, litigation and reputational checks complete the picture.
The output is a register, not a one-off report. Every partner carries a risk rating and the evidence behind it, and the register can be re-screened on a cycle or when a partner's circumstances change. Where IP Octopus M2 is in use, findings sit alongside each partner's case history.
Distributors, dealers, agents or customers are about to receive credit, stock or investment.
Signs we see most often
- 01Your distributor or dealer network is growing faster than you can check it.
- 02Credit limits are being raised for partners you know little about.
- 03A partner shares an address, phone number or bank account with an employee or another partner.
- 04Agents deal with government officials on your behalf.
- 05Bad debts or disputes are concentrated in one region or group of partners.
- 06A lender or auditor asks how partners are vetted.
Scoped in writing, run by one accountable team.
Every engagement starts with agreed questions, a reporting line and a confidentiality protocol. The steps below are how this service usually runs; we adapt them to your matter.
- 01TierRate the partner population by value, geography and exposure to set the depth of each check.
- 02MapTrace ownership, related parties and links to employees, vendors or officials.
- 03VerifyConfirm premises and operations through open sources, with field visits for higher tiers.
- 04CheckReview credit history, litigation, regulatory actions and reputation.
- 05RateAssign a risk rating with the evidence and any onboarding conditions attached.
- 06Re-screenRepeat the checks on a cycle or when a trigger event occurs.
A risk rating for every partner and a register you can re-screen as the network changes.
- A risk rating and evidence summary for each partner
- A link analysis of partners, employees and vendors
- Field verification reports for higher-risk partners
- A partner register ready for periodic re-screening
- Recommended onboarding conditions and contract clauses
The law and frameworks this work is aligned to
- Aligned to ISO 37001 due diligence on business associates
- PMLA, 2002 and the RBI Master Direction on KYC, where the client is a regulated entity
- FATF Recommendations on beneficial ownership
- UK Bribery Act, 2010 s.7 and US FCPA expectations for third parties, where they apply
- DPDP Act, 2023 for personal data of individual partners
References show the standard the work is built to. They do not imply accreditation or endorsement by the bodies that publish them.
This is a summary of the service. For a deeper understanding of how it would work for your organisation, please reach out to us.
Talk to a BDI partnerWhere this service meets BDI's technology.
The platforms below record, monitor or act on the work this service produces.
Pactinex
Background checks on new partners, distributors and agents, linked to their contracts.
IP Octopus M2: Case & Business Partner Management
Distributors, dealers and agents screened before onboarding and re-screened periodically.
Questions clients ask before we start.
Do we need to check every partner?
Not to the same depth. Risk-tiering lets you apply light checks to low-risk partners and deeper checks where value, geography or government contact raises the risk.
Will checks slow down onboarding?
They need not. Lower tiers can be cleared on desk checks, and the deeper work is reserved for partners whose value or risk justifies it.
How often should partners be re-screened?
We usually recommend annual re-screening for higher tiers, and event-driven checks for all partners, such as on a change of ownership or a credit-limit increase.