# Payment approvals

The payment approvals feature requires that a payment be reviewed and approved by a designated user before it is processed. This provides an additional layer of oversight for cross-border payment operations and is sometimes referred to as a maker/checker workflow.

Note
The payment approvals feature must be enabled for your account before you can use it. Contact your Ripple Payments account manager to enable this feature.

## Roles

The payment approvals workflow uses two roles:

| Role | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| **Maker** | Creates a payment and submits it for approval. The maker cannot approve their own payment. |
| **Checker** | Reviews a pending payment approval request and approves, rejects, or cancels it. |


## Approval log

The **Approval log** tab on the Payments page displays all submitted payment approval requests. Select any row to open the approval review panel with full payment and approval details.

| Column | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| **Date** | The date and time the payment was submitted for approval. |
| **Beneficiary** | The beneficiary of the payment. |
| **Sending amount** | The sending amount and currency of the payment. |
| **Receiving amount** | The receiving amount and currency of the payment. |
| **Initiator** | The email address of the maker who submitted the payment for approval. |
| **Approval status** | The current approval status of the payment. See [Approval statuses](#approval-statuses) for a description of each status. |
| **Action** | The **Review** button. Appears only for payments in **Pending** status. Select it to open the approval review panel. |


## Approval statuses

| Status | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| **Pending** | The payment is awaiting a decision. Displays a live countdown showing the time remaining before the associated quote expires. |
| **Approved** | A checker approved the payment and it has been sent for processing. |
| **Rejected** | A checker rejected the payment. The rejection reason is visible in the approval review panel. |
| **Cancelled** | The maker cancelled the approval request before a decision was made. |
| **Expired** | No decision was made before the payment quote expired. Once expired, the approval request cannot be approved, rejected, or cancelled. |


## Approval review panel

Selecting a row in the **Approval log** opens the approval review panel. The panel displays the following information:

- Payment amount, sending currency, and receiving currency
- Beneficiary details
- Originator details
- Quote details, including a live countdown timer showing when the quote expires
- Approval activity history, including who submitted, approved, rejected, or cancelled the request and when


For payments in **Approved** status, the panel also includes a link to the corresponding payment record.

Important
When a quote expires, no further action can be taken on the approval request. The approval status changes to **Expired** and all action buttons are removed from the panel.

## Approve a payment

Only a checker can approve a payment. A maker cannot approve their own payment.

To approve a payment:

1. Select the **Payments** tab.
2. Select the **Approval log** tab.
3. Select **Review** next to the payment you want to approve.
4. Review the payment details in the approval review panel and confirm the quote has not expired.
5. Select **Approve and send**.


The payment is sent for processing and the approval status changes to **Approved**.

## Reject a payment

Only a checker can reject a payment.

To reject a payment:

1. Select the **Payments** tab.
2. Select the **Approval log** tab.
3. Select **Review** next to the payment you want to reject.
4. Select **Reject**.
5. In the **Reject payment** dialog, select one or more reasons for the rejection:
  - **Incorrect information**
  - **Cost (FX + fees)**
  - **Purpose of transaction not defined**
  - **Duplicate payment**
  - **Other reason** — if selected, enter a brief description in the text field (50 characters maximum)
6. Select **Reject payment** to confirm.


The approval status changes to **Rejected**. The maker can view the rejection reason by selecting the payment in the **Approval log**.

## Cancel an approval request

Only the maker who submitted the payment can cancel an approval request, and only while the payment is in **Pending** status.

To cancel an approval request:

1. Select the **Payments** tab.
2. Select the **Approval log** tab.
3. Select the payment you want to cancel.
4. Select **Cancel**.


The approval status changes to **Cancelled**.