- MONEY LAUNDERING COMPLIANCE
Verification of Identity
All firms of solicitors are required to satisfy themselves as to the identity of their clients. We list below the various types of evidence which are acceptable for us to use to verify identity.
You will need to provide us with ONE document from the Personal Identity category and TWO documents from the Address category, which will confirm your full true name and your up-to-date postal address.
Personal Identity
- Current signed Passport
- Current EU or UK photocard driving license
- Residence Permit issued by the Home Office together with own country’s passport
- Armed Forces ID card
- EU member state identity card
Address
- Recent utility bill or bank statement or mortgage statement with the current address (no more than three months old)
- Current UK driving license
- Council Tax bill for the current year
- Confirmation from the Electoral Register or
local Council rent card or tenancy agreement - Pension or State Benefit recent letter
- HMRC PAYE Coding Notice (recent)
Please could you arrange to visit our office to bring us the documents so we can take photocopies and return the originals to you. Alternatively, you may wish to forward the originals by secure post.
We are under a duty to you to keep all information relating to your affairs completely confidential unless authorised by you to disclose information to someone else. However, we may sometimes have other duties and obligations which affect our obligations to you, for example, we are obliged to disclose to the National Criminal Intelligence Service any suspicions we may have regarding money laundering or terrorist activities and this will override our duty of confidentiality to you.
– CERTIFICATION
All documents must be originals if you bring them to the firm in person, or otherwise certified copies.
The appropriate persons or bodies who are able to certify documents for this purpose are Solicitors (including a Notary Public), Chartered Accountant or a Doctor.
Alongside the photograph the appropriate person must write: This copy is a true likeness of the original which was presented to me by the person named therein.
And on the copy document the appropriate person must write: I have seen the original document of which this is a true copy.
All copies must bear the following information: Your full name; full address; your occupation; your telephone number and the date. The documents must also be signed by you, or signed by the appropriate person.
To comply with our legal responsibilities, we are required to carry out further identity and proof of residence checks. These details will be checked using national records to ensure all information is correct. To simplify this process and to save time, we will use an acknowledged identity verification service for which we will charge you a fee not exceeding £5 plus VAT per individual.
