Wwft & compliance: what we check and why

The Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme, Wwft) requires notaries, banks and some financial service providers to carry out checks before they take on a new client. For founders that is unusual; with other online products you never have to go through this. But for notarial acts it is mandatory.

What we check

• Identity: that the person behind the account really is that person
• PEP status: whether someone is a 'politically exposed person' (requires extra checks)
• Sanctions lists: whether someone is on an international sanctions list (EU, OFAC)
• Ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs): who ultimately owns the BV
• Source of funds: for larger investments we sometimes ask where the money comes from

How we do it

For identity, PEP and sanctions lists we use Sumsub. It is a specialised verification partner that carries out in a few minutes checks that would take days by hand. For the UBO declaration, we explicitly ask you in the incorporation file who the ultimate beneficial owners are (>25% interest).

What it means for you

In practice: five minutes with your phone, ID photo, face in front of the camera, answer a few questions. The same flow for co-founders. That is all. We store the documents securely and share them only with our notary partners and, where legally required, with supervisory authorities.