Connecting Karbon
Overview. Connect Karbon to IdentityCheck, and you start a check by adding a note on a contact tagged <kyc> for an identity check or <aml> for a Tranche 2 risk assessment. IdentityCheck emails the contact a verification link and posts progress and results back as Karbon notes, not as profile fields. The Karbon connection is real time, so a check starts as soon as you add the tagged note.
How the connection works
Karbon is one of our out-of-the-box integrations, so it is available on every tier, including the free plan. Only custom integrations require a paid tier, and these help articles cover the out-of-the-box integrations.
You connect Karbon to IdentityCheck through a secure authorisation, so you never share your password. Karbon is a real-time connection: when you add a tagged note, IdentityCheck acts on it straight away rather than waiting for a scheduled sync.
Karbon works differently from the field-based integrations. Rather than ticking a checkbox or setting a property, you trigger a check by writing a note with a special tag, and the results come back to you the same way, as notes on the contact. There are no custom KYC or AML fields to provision on the Karbon profile.
You connect and manage Karbon from your Integrations settings in the app.
Starting a check with a note tag
To start a check, add a note on the Karbon contact and include the tag for the check you want:
<kyc>starts a plain identity (KYC) check. IdentityCheck emails the contact a verification link and begins posting progress notes.<aml>starts a full Tranche 2 risk assessment: the consent, intake, biometric and risk-assessment journey. This only works once the account-level Tranche 2 flow is switched on. See Setting up your Tranche 2 compliance flow.
The tag is a trigger only. IdentityCheck reads the tagged note to know it should start a check; the note you write is not where results are stored.
You can also start a check from a Karbon KYC task, which shows a Send Verification link. The task option works with Karbon client groups, so it is a convenient way to send from an existing task in your workflow.
Turning on Tranche 2 for Karbon
Tranche 2 writeback is off by default and enabled per integration, so switch it on for Karbon before you rely on the <aml> tag. For a Karbon task, you also choose whether that task triggers a plain KYC check or a Tranche 2 assessment, so the same task type can serve either purpose depending on how you set it.
The <kyc> tag does not need Tranche 2; it starts an identity check on its own.
Where the results appear (notes, not fields)
This is the key thing to know about Karbon: IdentityCheck writes progress and results back as notes on the contact, not as structured fields on the Karbon profile.
For a Tranche 2 assessment, the completed result, including the risk rating, arrives as a results note on the contact rather than as separate Risk Rating, RA Completed Date or Risk Assessment Link fields. So when you want to read an outcome in Karbon, look at the notes on the contact, not at profile fields. If you need the result stored as structured fields, an integration like Xero Practice Manager or HubSpot writes the five Tranche 2 result fields onto the client record instead.
Karbon does not create client records from a check. Starting a verification acts on the contact you tagged; it does not add a new Karbon client.
Frequently asked
How do I start a check in Karbon?
Add a note on the contact tagged <kyc> to start an identity check, or <aml> to start a Tranche 2 risk assessment. IdentityCheck picks up the tagged note, emails the contact a verification link, and posts progress back as Karbon notes. The connection is real time.
Where do the results show up in Karbon? As notes on the contact, not as fields on the profile. IdentityCheck posts progress and the final result back as Karbon notes, so read the outcome and any risk rating in the note. Karbon does not store the individual result fields as structured profile fields.
Does the <aml> tag work on its own?
The <aml> tag starts a Tranche 2 risk assessment, which needs the account-level Tranche 2 flow switched on. Tranche 2 writeback is off by default and enabled per integration, so turn it on for Karbon first. The <kyc> tag starts a plain identity check and does not need Tranche 2.
Can I start a check from a Karbon task instead of a note? Yes. A Karbon KYC task shows a Send Verification link, and it works with Karbon client groups. For a task you can also choose whether it triggers a plain KYC check or a Tranche 2 assessment, so the same task type can serve either purpose.