Anti-money-laundering and identity verification

1. Why verification exists

UK anti-money-laundering (AML) rules require financial services to know who their clients are before providing services. The abbreviation KYC, know your customer, describes the practical process that satisfies those rules: collecting identifying information, confirming it against evidence, and keeping both current. For you, the benefit is concrete: a verified account is far harder for a criminal to hijack or impersonate, and withdrawals only travel to destinations tied to your proven identity.

Verification is not a formality we may waive. No adviser, and no message claiming to be from an adviser, can genuinely skip the check or "fast-track for a deposit". Anyone offering that is not us; the fraud warning page explains the pattern.

2. The stages of onboarding

Onboarding runs in four stages. First, registration collects your name, email and phone number. Second, verification matches a photo identity document to a liveness selfie and, where needed, confirms your address. Third, the plan is chosen and funded from an account in your own name. Fourth, the exchange connection is created with read-only permissions. Each stage feeds the next, and no trading or withdrawal is enabled until the second completes.

3. Documents we accept

For identity, we accept current passports and full UK driving licences from the UK and other jurisdictions where the document is machine-readable. For address, where it is not already on the identity document, we accept a bank statement or utility bill issued within the last three months in your name at the address you registered. Screenshots are not accepted; the document should be photographed whole, with all four corners and the expiry date visible.

Documents in a language other than English can be accepted; we may ask for a certified translation if the automatic check cannot read them. Damaged, expired or altered documents fail automatically, and altered documents are reported as required by law.

4. How long verification takes

Most checks complete automatically within one working day, and many within the hour of a clear submission. Cases that need manual review, a name change, a translation, an unusual document, are typically resolved within three working days, and you can watch the status on the dashboard rather than waiting blind. If a stage stalls longer than that, contact [email protected] and quote your registered email.

5. What happens if verification fails

A failed check tells you which element did not pass: the photo was unreadable, the document was expired, the selfie did not match, or the address evidence was too old. You can resubmit immediately and as many times as needed, at no charge. Failures at this stage are almost always technical, not accusations, and the message you receive names the exact fix.

If a mismatch is substantive, for example the name on your funding account differs from your identity document, the case moves to manual review and we will ask what explains it: marriage, legal name change, hyphenation or transliteration are all routine. What we cannot do is credit a deposit from an account whose owner we cannot tie to your verified identity.

6. Source-of-funds questions

For larger amounts, UK rules require us to understand where funds originate. You may be asked a short set of source-of-funds questions: employment income, sale of property, inheritance, business proceeds, investments. Larger or unusual patterns may invite evidence, such as a statement showing the sale. These questions are proportionate, kept confidential under the Privacy Policy, and are asked of customers at thresholds, not of anyone's face or name.

7. Ongoing monitoring

Verification is not a one-time event. We keep records current, re-check identity details periodically, and monitor activity for patterns that the rules require us to notice: rapid pass-through of funds, structuring deposits just below thresholds, or engagement with sanctioned parties. Monitoring is automated in the first instance and reviewed by compliance staff before any action touches your account.

8. Sanctions and political-exposure screening

As part of onboarding and ongoing monitoring, identities are screened against UK and international sanctions lists and checked for politically exposed person status. A match does not imply wrongdoing: lists catch name similarities, and PEP status simply means a closer look at source of funds. Where a true match exists, the law prohibits the relationship and we cannot discuss the specifics; a false-positive resolution usually takes a few working days.

9. What we cannot accept

Third-party funding is the clearest rule: deposits must come from accounts in your own name, and third-party or business-account funds are returned to source. Anonymous funding routes, mixing services and privacy wallets fall outside what UK rules allow us to receive. Accounts opened for someone else's use, or with details you do not genuinely hold, fail verification and are closed.

10. Your responsibilities as a user

• Give accurate, current information, and tell us within 30 days of a name, address or contact change.
• Fund only from your own accounts, and expect withdrawals to your verified destinations only.
• Never share your password, one-time codes or recovery codes, with anyone, including anyone claiming to be us.
• Tell us promptly if you suspect your identity documents or email account have been compromised.

11. Record keeping

The rules require us to retain verification records for five years after the relationship ends, and transaction records for the same period. Records are stored encrypted, access is role-limited, and retention beyond the legal requirement does not happen: the Privacy Policy sets out the full schedule and your rights over the data, including access and correction.

12. Reporting obligations and tipping-off

Where the law requires it, suspicious activity is reported to the relevant UK authority. The law also prohibits tipping off, which means that in such cases we may not be able to discuss why an action was paused or declined, even though you will be told that it was. This silence is a legal constraint, not rudeness, and the fastest path through it is patient cooperation with any documented request we are permitted to make.

13. Staff training and governance

Compliance is a named function here, not a shared folder. Front-of-house staff are trained on verification and fraud patterns at induction and annually; changes to procedures are approved by the compliance function and versioned; and money-laundering risk is assessed when any new payment method or market is added. The governance details sit with the Demo Compliance Team and are confirmed on request.

14. Tax and your records

Verification and AML are separate from tax, but the two meet in your records. Depending on your circumstances, disposals may be chargeable events for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, and your dashboard provides a full transaction history export for your accountant. We do not report your trading to HMRC as your adviser, but we do keep the records that make your own filing straightforward.

15. Questions and complaints

Anything unclear on this page can be raised with [email protected], and anything you disagree with can be taken through the process on our complaints page, including referral to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Verification data handling questions go to the same address and are answered under the Privacy Policy's rights framework. Our regulatory position is summarised on the licensing page.