Every business needs the people behind it. An owner links an Individual as a beneficial owner of the business, carrying ownershipPercentage and isControlPerson. A signatory links an Individual as an authorized signer, carrying isPrimary, isGuarantor, and title. The same person can be both: link the same Individual into owners and signatories. For the full field list, jump to the Request reference.

Common use cases

• Add the beneficial owners of a business and mark the control person.
• Add an authorized signer who can act for the business.
• Link one person as both an owner and a signatory.
• Reuse a person you already created as an owner or signer of another business.

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PENDING-PUBLISH

The boarding API Reference is pending publication; the ref: targets on this page are placeholders. Replace each with the real boarding-spec operationId once the boarding reference ships.

Scenarios

Every owner and signatory links to an Individual. Supply exactly one of three ways to identify that person: an inline individual (create and link in one step), an existing individualId, or the person's externalId (resolve it with ?externalId=, then pass the individualId). Creating a person and linking them are two distinct operations; an inline individual does both in one call.

sequenceDiagram
    participant App as Your application
    participant PCE as PCE

    App->>PCE: POST /individuals (or reuse an existing ind_ id)
    PCE-->>App: 201 Created (ind_ id)
    App->>PCE: POST /owners or /signatories (link by individualId)
    PCE-->>App: 201 Created (own_ / sig_ id, status PENDING_VERIFICATION)
    Note over PCE: Exactly one control person across owners + signatories

Before you begin (all scenarios)

• You have the businessId of the business you are adding people to.
• You have each person's identity details, or the individualId of someone already on PCE.
• Exactly one person across all owners and signatories will be the control person.

Scenario 1: Add a beneficial owner

Add a beneficial owner by individualId, externalId, or an inline individual. Make a POST request to /v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners.

curl -X POST https://sandbox-api.prioritycommerce.com/v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners \
  -H "x-api-key: <your-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "individualId": "ind_def-456",
    "ownershipPercentage": 25.00,
    "isControlPerson": false,
    "title": "Investor"
  }'

Response: 201 Created

{
  "id": "own_92",
  "uri": "/v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners/own_92",
  "individualId": "ind_def-456",
  "ownershipPercentage": 25.00,
  "isControlPerson": false,
  "title": "Investor",
  "status": "PENDING_VERIFICATION"
}

Ownership is re-validated on every write. The total across owners cannot exceed 100%.

Scenario 2: Add an authorized signatory

Link an authorized signer the same three ways as an owner. Make a POST request to /v1/businesses/{businessId}/signatories.

curl -X POST https://sandbox-api.prioritycommerce.com/v1/businesses/{businessId}/signatories \
  -H "x-api-key: <your-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "individualId": "ind_ghi-789",
    "isPrimary": false,
    "isGuarantor": true,
    "title": "CFO"
  }'

Scenario 3: Link one person as both owner and signatory

The same person can hold equity and be authorized to sign. Create the Individual once, then link the same individualId into both owners and signatories.

# Link as an owner
curl -X POST https://sandbox-api.prioritycommerce.com/v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners \
  -H "x-api-key: <your-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "individualId": "ind_abc-123", "ownershipPercentage": 60.00, "isControlPerson": true, "title": "CEO" }'

# Link the same person as a signatory
curl -X POST https://sandbox-api.prioritycommerce.com/v1/businesses/{businessId}/signatories \
  -H "x-api-key: <your-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "individualId": "ind_abc-123", "isPrimary": true, "isGuarantor": true, "title": "CEO" }'

Set isControlPerson on only one of the links; the control person is counted once across owners and signatories.

Scenario 4: Reuse an Individual across businesses

An Individual is shared and standalone: the same person can own one business and sign for another. Look the person up by your own reference, then link the returned individualId to the second business.

# Resolve the person by your external reference
curl "https://sandbox-api.prioritycommerce.com/v1/individuals?externalId=founder-jane-01" \
  -H "x-api-key: <your-key>"

# Link the resolved individualId as an owner of a different business
curl -X POST https://sandbox-api.prioritycommerce.com/v1/businesses/{otherBusinessId}/owners \
  -H "x-api-key: <your-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "individualId": "ind_jkl-321", "ownershipPercentage": 100.00, "isControlPerson": true, "title": "Owner" }'

The same SSN cannot back two separate owners on one business; reuse the single Individual instead. See Create an individual for the shared-person model.

Manage owners and signatories

Each person link has its own operations. Owners and signatories behave the same way, on their own paths.

Owners:

• List or read one: GET /v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners, or GET /v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners/{ownerId} for one owner.
• Update: PATCH /v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners/{ownerId} to change the stake, title, or control flag.
• Remove: DELETE /v1/businesses/{businessId}/owners/{ownerId} end-dates the link; ownership history is kept.

Signatories:

• List or read one: GET /v1/businesses/{businessId}/signatories, or GET /v1/businesses/{businessId}/signatories/{signatoryId} for one signer.
• Update: PATCH /v1/businesses/{businessId}/signatories/{signatoryId} to change isPrimary, isGuarantor, or title.
• Remove: DELETE /v1/businesses/{businessId}/signatories/{signatoryId} end-dates the link, like an owner.

Request reference

Owner and signatory KYB rules (identity, ownership totals, control person) are owned on Business validation & KYB rules; the exact rejection messages are on Underwriting exceptions.

Statuses

Each owner or signatory moves PENDING_VERIFICATION → VERIFIED (or ENDED once removed). Re-read the business to follow the change; there are no status webhooks. See Status lifecycle and Underwriting exceptions for resolving a rejected person.

Sandbox testing

Use the sandbox to add and verify people before going live. Re-read the business to confirm each person's status.

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PENDING-PUBLISH

The sandbox test identities that drive an owner or signatory to VERIFIED vs. a rejection are pending the boarding sandbox guide. Confirm before publish.

Go live

The shared pre-production checklist is in Getting Started. Specific to owners and signatories:

• Every owner and signer has a primary ID (SSN or ITIN) plus a secondary government ID.
• Exactly one person across owners and signatories is the control person.
• Ownership totals satisfy the rule for the business's businessType.

Best practices

Next steps

See also

• Create a business: add owners and signers inline in the composite create
• Businesses: how owners, signatories, and Individuals relate
• Underwriting exceptions: resolve a rejected owner or signatory