Thank you for going though this process, we know Anti-Money Laundering and Know-Your-Customer policies can be intimidating and we know a lot of the terms can be confusing to volunteer run non-profits. This guide is meant to help demystify the language and concepts used by the payment industry and help you complete the form as quickly as possible.
You can download the application here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zWBM5IrT_9G-F7FDdcp5TpvsrAl2khNh/view?usp=drive_link
1. Organization Information and 2. Primary Contact
Although Zone4 has most of this information already for your club, the new payment platform insists on it being collected on the same form as all the information so our appologies for this. The main challenging part of this first section is to find a PDF or Image of your provincial or federal incorporation or society registration document. This is a document usually with your club’s bylaws and board resolutions. We understand finding it might be challenging so if it’s not possible to find it, please proceed without it and we will try to lookup your provincial or federal registration manually.
3. Beneficial Ownership & Control
The payment industry and KYC and AML processes make heavy use of the term ‘Beneficial owners” which is confusing for non-profit, volunteer run organizations who do not make profit or have any owners. The key thing to know is that Anti-Money-Laundering regulations are all about ‘follow-the-money’ – knowing who controls the funds once they pass from one entity to the next. So even though your organization may not have owners or profit, it does have funds that it receives and then pays out for various services. What we need to know is who are the individuals that control that flow from both a governance perspective as well as practical signing authority perspective.
Section #3 has three subsections which you would ONLY fill out ONE of them according to your entity type. Most organizations Zone4 works with are Registered Non-Profit / Societies. For this we request the details and photo ID of two people that have significant control over the organizations decisions. For sole proprietors, only one person and ID is required. For businesses, it’s anyone owning 25% or more of the company.
Don’t forget the Attestation on page 5
4. Authorized Signatories & Banking Information
Once again, Zone4 already has this information which is uploaded within your club login area but the payment processor insisted it goes on this form for completeness. So select option A and confirm Option A as appropriate.
Signing Authorities
The individuals with ‘significant control’ defined in section 3 was more about governance, whereas this section is more about the practical day to day control of who has signing authority for your bank accounts. In a lot of cases these are going to be the same people and that’s fine. Don’t worry about uploading their photo ID again, we just need it once. But fill in the person details so that is complete.
5. Processing Profile
Again, this is generally information Zone4 already knows as we have many years of processing information from existing clubs. But the payment processor insists on it being on this form. This is on the form mainly for new organizations so we can get an idea of their business. You are fine to make ball-park estimates we we will double check the historical values to correct if needed.
10. Declarations and Signatures
Complete the document with your name, role, and signature and you’re done!
11. Submission
Send completed forms and attachments to compliance@zone4.ca
Thank you for your time completing this, it’s a necessary requirement for us to continue to offer your club the use of our merchant account for payment processing. Please note that at any time you can elect to get your own merchant account via one of our other providers, but we understand the on-boarding process can be more painful that this form so we’re trying to keep this option available for those that need it.
Have a great winter!!
FAQ
Is this optional? – This is mandatory if your organization wants to keep using Zone4’s merchant account for payment processing. You are free to get your own merchant account through Stripe or one of our other providers.
What happens if we don’t complete it? – We will have to freeze payouts initially and ultimately cease processing transactions eventually.
I can’t get all the documentation together in time? – Get what you can submitted by Monday Dec 22 so we have something on file we can move forward with. It’s no trouble to re-submit the form when you get more details. You would have to re-submit on information changes anyway.
Why is this necessary now ?- Zone4’s payment processor for the past 15 years is likely shutting down in the new year and continued use of their service may put funds at risk. Due to the ongoing delays and difficulty with settlement schedules we have been working since August to find a new payment processor. We finally have the agreements in place and this on-boarding process is the best we could negotiate.
Is it easy to switch to Stripe instead? – Stripe on-boarding is similar to this form in that you must prove to them who controls the entity and money flow. We have over 400 clubs using Stripe and it’s a good solution, but we know that the increased KYC and AML strictness (and the fact they don’t understand the nuances of volunteer non-profit Canadian sport clubs) makes their on-boarding perhaps a bit harder than this form.
I don’t want to provide my ID – We certainly understand that position and we fought very hard to reduce the requirements from our processor. We had always been the ‘easier’ option compared to Stripe and other merchant account providers because we didn’t require these strict rules for identifying individuals. We had always held the position that we operate based on relationships and in a low risk area with non-profit sports clubs. Unfortunately, the payment processing world has undergone increased regulations, especially in 2025 and having proof of specific individuals that control the flow of funds is the core tenant of these regulations. We wish it weren’t so, but we were given no choice on this. We either provide what they require or we can’t process credit card payments.
What if we have more than 1 bank account in Zone4 that receives payouts. – We’re required to have the IDs of those with signing authority on the bank accounts we pay out to so include the IDs of whatever accounts you have loaded in Zone4. There is a defined area for 2 people, and then an area below where additional people can be added.