On 23 August 2022, the Wolfsberg Group published best practice guidance on requests for information (RFIs) initiated as a result of transaction monitoring.

An RFI is used when a correspondent (or any other provider of payment services) is seeking to understand the background of a transaction that has been processed through an account or relationship in its books and is directed at the customer entity that sent the payment instruction to the correspondent – this is seen in correspondent banking and other payment relationships where a bank is acting as an intermediary.

Therefore, the guidance is intended to improve awareness about the value of RFIs in the context of a correspondent banking relationship although it can be applied to other payments-based relationships. The appendix to the guidance includes a list of commonly asked RFI questions and expected responses from respondent institutions.