KYC / AML policy: the checks, and why they protect you

1. Introduction

Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures confirm who you are; anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing measures (AML/PLD and CTF) make sure the platform is not used to disguise the origin of criminal funds. Together they serve one purpose from your point of view: ensuring that the person opening the account is you, that the money in the system is legitimate, and that the records exist to prove both when the law asks.

These checks are legal obligations for financial activity in the United Kingdom, not optional housekeeping or a marketing hurdle. They apply from the moment you register, and they continue quietly in the background for as long as your account is open.

2. What KYC is

KYC is client identification: collecting your name, date of birth and address, confirming them against official documents, and checking that the person in the documents is the person submitting them. Identity verification means the data is confirmed as genuine, current and consistent, not merely collected and stored.

The practical outcome is that your account belongs to you in a way a support call can prove. When you later request a withdrawal to a bank account, change your telephone number or lose access to your e-mail, KYC is what lets us restore your access to you and not to someone impersonating you.

3. What AML / PLD is

Anti-money-laundering and prevention-of-laundering law (AML/PLD) requires firms to assess the risk each client and transaction carries, to monitor activity for patterns associated with laundering, and to report suspicions through the statutory channels. Money laundering is the process of making criminal proceeds look legitimate, and financial platforms are one of the places it is attempted.

For an honest user, AML is mostly invisible: the risk assessment happens at onboarding, and monitoring runs continuously. It becomes visible only where activity looks unusual, and even then the process is an enquiry, not an accusation, as the timelines in this policy make clear.

4. Why identity verification is required

Verification serves four purposes. It prevents fraud, by ensuring accounts are opened by real, identifiable people rather than fabricated identities. It protects existing clients, because a verified ecosystem is far harder for criminals to operate in. It meets applicable regulatory requirements, including the UK's Money Laundering Regulations and the record-keeping duties that go with them. And it reduces financial risk for everyone, including you, because the checks that slow a criminal down are the same checks that will one day confirm your own withdrawal request is genuine.

5. Documents we ask for

To verify identity, we accept current government-issued photographic documents: a passport, a driving licence or a national identity card. To verify address, we accept a bank statement, a utility bill, a council tax letter or an official tax document issued within the last three months, showing your name and residential address.

Where a document is unclear, or where an automated check cannot match you, we may ask for a short selfie or liveness check, a live capture that confirms the document holder is present. We only request documents we actually use; if you are ever unsure whether a request is genuine, contact [email protected] before sending anything, because fraudsters imitate verification requests too.

6. The verification process, step by step

Registration: you create the account with your name, e-mail and telephone number. Submission: you upload your identity document, your proof of address and, where requested, the liveness capture, all through the encrypted upload inside the platform. Automatic check: the system validates the documents' format, expiry, security features and consistency with your entered details, usually within minutes.

Manual review: where the automatic check flags something, a trained reviewer examines the file; most manual reviews complete within one working day. Confirmation: you are notified of the result inside the platform, and, where verification has failed, precisely which document needs replacing and why. Each stage is logged, and you can see the current status of your verification on the dashboard at any time.

7. Enhanced due diligence

Some situations call for enhanced due diligence (EDD): higher-risk jurisdictions, complex ownership structures, unusually large deposits, or activity that does not match the profile you first presented. EDD may involve additional documents, questions about the source of funds or source of wealth, or confirmation of your employment or business activities.

EDD is not a penalty and does not imply suspicion of you personally; it is a proportionate response to circumstances the regulations define as higher-risk. It usually completes within one to three working days, and your personal manager will tell you what is needed in one list rather than a drip-feed of requests.

8. How long verification takes

Straightforward checks complete the same working day, and most within an hour. Manual reviews add up to one working day; enhanced due diligence adds one to three. Public holidays, unreadable documents and mismatched names (a document in a maiden name, a middle name used inconsistently) are the three most common causes of delay, and all three are fixed by a single better photograph or a linking document such as a marriage certificate.

9. Why verification can be refused

A file can be rejected for concrete reasons: a document that is expired, unreadable or cropped; details that do not match between the document and the account; a genuine suspicion of forgery or an impersonation attempt; failure to provide requested information within the stated time; or the appearance of the document in public fraud databases. Sanctions-list matches, even erroneous ones, suspend an account until resolved.

Refusal at document stage is not refusal of you: in most cases a replacement document passes immediately. Where we cannot complete verification at all, the account is closed and any verified funds are returned to their source. We do not discuss the reasons for AML-related suspensions beyond what the law permits us to say, a restriction that sometimes looks unhelpful and is in fact a legal duty.

10. Transaction monitoring

Once your account is live, transactions are monitored for patterns associated with money laundering: rapid pass-through of funds, structuring deposits just below thresholds, activity inconsistent with your stated profile, or connections to higher-risk indicators. Monitoring is automated first and reviewed by people second, so a false alarm is normally cleared quickly.

Where suspicious activity is identified, applicable functions on the account may be restricted, including deposits, trading or withdrawals, while the review proceeds. Restrictions are protective, time-limited where the review clears the concern, and lifted the moment the file is resolved.

11. Your responsibilities

You are responsible for providing accurate, current and genuine information and documents, and for updating your details when they change. Using a account in a name that is not yours, uploading edited images, or laundering the identity documents of another person are not policy violations to be forgiven; they are crimes, and they will end in account closure and, where the law requires, a report to the authorities.

12. Storage and protection of verification data

Identity documents and verification records are stored encrypted, with access limited to the compliance functions that need them and every access logged. UK AML rules require verification records to be retained for a defined period after the relationship ends, so deletion is not instant; the retention periods and your rights are set out in full in our Privacy Policy, which governs this data alongside this policy.

13. Who receives your data

To run these checks, data is shared with defined categories of recipients: identity-verification providers that perform the document and database checks, IT providers that host the encrypted systems, affiliated companies within the group where the platform structure requires it, and regulators or competent state authorities where a lawful request or reporting duty applies. Each category receives only what its function requires, under contractual confidentiality, and never for the recipients' own marketing.

14. The requirements we comply with

The programme is built around the UK framework applicable to the platform's activities: the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 for the personal data involved, and the FCA's client-asset, onboarding and complaint-handling expectations relevant to the services delivered through partner institutions. Where execution is performed by a licensed third party, its own regulatory obligations apply to that activity, and the division of responsibilities is confirmed to you on request.

15. Contact for KYC / AML questions

For any question about verification, documents, a pending review or this policy, write to [email protected], marked for the attention of Client Support & Compliance. The desk replies usually under one working hour during Monday to Friday, 9:00–17:30 UK time (excluding public holidays), and a named reviewer handles any case that passes the one-working-day mark, so no verification ever sits in silence.