The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (Act) is intended to help prevent Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.
The Act requires Financial Advisers to comply and verify clients’ identities and any people we deal with on their behalf.
Accordingly, we are required to confirm and verify the following information.
In some cases, we are also required to verify what your “Source of Wealth” was, and we may need to ask you for documents to verify this.
Typically we will ask you for the documentation at the meeting where we present our financial advice to you. However, we may ask you for this prior to this if we feel that it will simplify the process for you. In some cases, the information required can be complex, particularly when the entity involved is a Trust or a Company. In this case, we will make you aware of what is required as soon as possible to allow you time to gather the information.
In most cases, we will use Electronic Verification. This will involve you being sent a link to upload your identity information, and the verification will be sent to us. If you prefer or have the information to hand, we can verify this information face to face. This means we will need to sight and verify the documents at the meeting. We will take copies of the documents and retain these on our records. Manual verification may be required depending on the type of Identification document you want to use, as we can not electronically verify all documents.
Proof of Identity
You have three options
There are some alternatives for identification
You can use
NZ Firearms Licence;
or
2 of Birth Certificate, Certificate of NZ Citizenship, NZ Driving Licence. In addition, your NZ Driving License, 18+ or an overseas driving license with a valid international driving permit
Or
NZ Driving License, plus a document that confirms your name and signature, such as a super gold card or a statement from a government agency such as IRD.
Proof of Address
You have three options
The identify documents you use must be original, must not be damaged and must be current or expired within 12 months. They must also be in English or have a certified translation.
Proof of Address documents must include your name, by less than 12 months old, must have a unique number and include your residential address. If it is addressed to a PO Box, it must clearly identify your residential address.
Examples of documents we can use include
Companies
We will need to identify any party who is in a position of authority or has a degree of control. This is typically people with more than a 25% shareholding. In some cases, we will be required to obtain additional information depending on your companies ownership structure and how the shareholding is held.
For a company, we need to identify
For any individual who is in a position of control, such as owners, senior managers and directors, we will also need to fulfil the requirements for individuals
If you are acting on behalf of a Trust, we will need a minute to confirm that you have authority to act. We will still require all Trustees to sign an application form.
We will need a copy of the Trust Deed and any subsequent amendments. Once we have these documents, we can confirm who we need to identify. This will include
We will also need to identify the source of wealth for the Trust.
In some cases, where we can’t sight the documents, you can provide us with certified copies. The person who does this can not be related to you or live with you. They also can not be involved in the investment or in the entity that is investing.
Documents must have been certified in your Presence and within the past three months.
They must confirm that
The documents must be in colour, and we must be able to see your facial features clearly.
Who can certify documents
This list is not exhaustive but provides the most common people who can certify the documents
If you are overseas, please contact us, and we will discuss who can certify the documents with you.