Why You Must Prove Who You Are
Before we can accept your instructions, you will be asked to provide information and documents to confirm your identity. This will be the case whether you are a new client or an existing client of the firm. We must ask for this information in order to comply with money laundering regulations and to help stop criminals using our services to launder money.

Criminals need to find a way of making the money they get from criminal activities “clean”. They may do this by trying to get it into the financial system without arousing suspicion. In doing so, they may use false identities and take the names of innocent people. This is why we must check that you are who you say you are, and that you live where you say you live.

As part of our security checks, we will ask you to to provide the following original documents:

Private Clients

• Either your passport, driving licence or police/forces identification

and

• Either a current utility bill, bank statement or council tax bill

Commercial Clients

• Either a passport, driving licence or birth certificate of the person with authority to instruct us on behalf of the company

We will photocopy the documents provided, and retain the copies on our file. The original documents will be returned to you immediately.

Being asked for identification does not mean that you are under suspicion. The security steps that we are obliged to take before accepting your instructions are a legal requirement and if you are unable to give us satisfactory proof of your identity, we may not be allowed to act for you.

If you are unable to provide us with the original documents listed above, please contact us to discuss other ways of confirming your identity.