Why do I have to verify my source of funds?

As a financial institution, Shares have to comply with rules and regulations. We also have financial regulators to which we are responsible for our actions.

In order to fulfill our legal obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations and in line with our Terms and Conditions, Shares are required to gain an understanding of clients activity.

This means we review accounts and may request further information to ensure that we meet our legal requirements.

With this in mind, we may sometimes need further information from you as to how you have been funding your account at Shares and where that money comes from.

During onboarding, you have to provide us with information about your source of funds. It may be employment, savings, family, welfare or something else. However, we may also need documentary evidence to support what you have told us at onboarding. For example, documents like payslips, account statements, contract of sales or others.

We ask these questions and seek documents only to fulfill our requirements and also fully support you as our customer. Should you have any questions please reach out to our support team who will be happy to help 🚀

Acceptable documents

In the table below you will find acceptable documents to evidence the source of your funds. Before providing documents, please make sure that:

pages are visible in full, with all four corners captured,
your name, date of statement and/or transactions are visible,
the quality of the photo taken/scan is good enough to read the document.

Source of funds/wealth	Expected documentation
Accumulated income	Last three months payslips Last three month’s account statements Letter from employer confirming last year’s income tax statement Copy of latest accounts (if self-employed)
Sales of interest in a company	Signed letter from solicitor/lawyer Signed letter from a regulated accountant Copy of contract of sale and sight of investment monies on bank statement Copies of media coverage
Sale of shares of investments	Legal sale document Copy of contract notes
Sale of property	Signed letter on headed paper from solicitor or lawyer handling the sale or from a regulated accountant Signed letter on headed paper from estate agent Copy of contract of sale
Inheritance	Grant of probate (with the copy of the will) which must include the value of the estate The will relating to the inheritance A signed letter on headed paper from the regulated solicitor dealing with the estate
Gift	Identification documentation on the donor Letter from the donor explaining the gift and source of funds behind the gift Documentary evidence as to the donor’s source of wealth
Competition/Compensation Win	Letter or court order from compensating body Signed letter from solicitor/lawyer handling the compensation
Other	Appropriate documentation which validates the information provided Signed letter from a person with personal knowledge of the activities described e.g. a regulated accountant/lawyer

GDPR

Any documentary evidence provided, will be treated in the strictest confidence and handled in line with our privacy policy and applicable data protection laws. To view the privacy policy, please use this link : https://shares.io/privacy-policy/