My SWIFT payment status says 'pending investigation' — what does that mean?
'Pending investigation' (or status PDNG) means a bank in the chain has flagged the payment for manual review — usually for sanctions screening, KYC concerns, missing documentation, or a routing error. The payment is neither rejected nor credited yet. Resolution typically takes 1-5 business days depending on the bank's compliance backlog.
Details
PDNG (Pending) is the standard ISO 20022 / pacs.002 status code for a payment held for human review. Common triggers: sanctions name match (often a false positive), missing beneficiary IBAN, unclear remittance information, source-of-funds question, BIC validation failure.
What happens next: the bank's compliance / operations team reviews the payment. They may release it (status moves back to ACSP / ACSC), reject it (status RJCT with a reason code), or request more information from the sender (typically via the sender's bank).
Sender's role: if requested, provide source-of-funds documentation, invoices, contracts, KYC information for sender and beneficiary. The faster you respond, the faster the payment moves.
Track the UETR on Ohmyfin to see which bank in the chain has the PDNG status — that's the bank to contact via the sender's relationship manager.
If PDNG persists more than 5 business days with no communication, ask the sender to file an MT199 enquiry — most compliance teams respond once formally chased.
Key facts
- PDNG = Pending — manual review at one bank in the chain
- Triggers: sanctions, KYC, missing docs, routing errors
- Resolution: 1-5 business days typical
- Provide source-of-funds documents promptly
- After 5 days, sender should file an MT199 enquiry
Frequently asked questions
My SWIFT payment status says 'pending investigation' — what does that mean?
'Pending investigation' (or status PDNG) means a bank in the chain has flagged the payment for manual review — usually for sanctions screening, KYC concerns, missing documentation, or a routing error. The payment is neither rejected nor credited yet. Resolution typically takes 1-5 business days depending on the bank's compliance backlog.
Is Ohmyfin tracking really free?
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Do I need a bank login to use Ohmyfin?
No. Ohmyfin queries the SWIFT GPI network directly via the UETR — no credentials at any bank required.
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