At the begin­ning of any trans­ac­tion, it is imper­a­tive that every client pro­vides their pho­to ID and proof of address. This may be seen as a labo­ri­ous task but it is to ensure that we com­ply with mon­ey laun­der­ing reg­u­la­tions set by the Gov­ern­ment as part of wider Euro­pean Union regulations. 

Accept­able pho­to ID can be in the form of a pass­port or pho­to dri­ving licence. Proof of address doc­u­ments can be a util­i­ty bill, coun­cil tax bill or bank state­ment which is less than three months old. It is cru­cial to ver­i­fy a person’s ID as it con­firms who a per­son says they are and pro­vides evi­dence of their cur­rent res­i­dence. ID can be pre­sent­ed in its orig­i­nal form or can be cer­ti­fied by a Solic­i­tor, Bank Man­ag­er or an Accoun­tant. The per­son cer­ti­fy­ing will need to be gov­erned by a pro­fes­sion­al body and cov­ered under the mon­ey laun­der­ing reg­u­la­tions. A per­son cer­ti­fy­ing a doc­u­ment will essen­tial­ly con­firm it is a true copy of the orig­i­nal, sign, stamp and add their name, address and job title onto the document.

If a client is instruct­ing from a dis­tance or lives abroad, then we require a cou­ple of extra doc­u­ments to the ones detailed above. We would require a Solic­i­tor, Bank Man­ag­er or an Accoun­tant who resides in the coun­try the client is liv­ing, to con­firm they know the client and their over­seas home or work address. For dis­tant clients, we will also car­ry out an elec­tron­ic ver­i­fi­ca­tion check.

Final­ly, for any funds that are being used like sav­ings, bonds or shares, we will require to see proof of the funds in the form of a bank state­ment which clear­ly shows the person’s name and account details. This shows how the monies have been sourced. 

Once the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion process is com­plet­ed, we can progress swift­ly with the trans­ac­tion. The mon­ey laun­der­ing reg­u­la­tions play a key func­tion in any trans­ac­tion when mon­ey or assets are involved, and like any oth­er busi­ness involv­ing finance, it will con­tin­ue to be mon­i­tored through­out a transaction.

Last­ly, where a third par­ty such as a rel­a­tive is gift­ing monies to a client, then the individual(s) pro­vid­ing the gift will be expect­ed to pro­vide their cer­ti­fied ID, proof of address and bank state­ment show­ing the monies in their bank account, or if the monies have already been trans­ferred to the client, details of the trans­ferred payment.

To arrange or dis­cuss ID require­ments, please get in touch on 01625 523988 or mail@​JBGass.​com