| Kindly note: the article below is being maintained on an ongoing basis and will be enhanced with additional information on coming updates. |
Under the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act (Wwft), Saxo Bank is required to conduct client due diligence on the clients with whom it establishes a business relationship. This includes ensuring the identity of its clients, the source of their funds and wealth and understanding their capital and ownership structure.
Based on Saxo Bank's Customer Due Diligence policy, we are obliged to ask additional questions when opening an account. Depending on your responses, our CDD departments may reach out for further clarification. The article below outlines the requirements for private clients. Focusing primarily on single private accounts and at the bottom of the article showing the additional requirements for joint accounts and minor accounts.
We kindly request you to complete the Opening form based on the following minimum requirements:
- Detailed Client Personal Information including: the full name, date of birth, nationality, tax information and residency.
- In case the country of residence deviates from the country in which a client is opening an account, proof of residence documentation is required (for example: a recent energy bill or bank statement showing the client’s name including the address of the client).
- In case the client is tax liable in multiple countries, we are required to receive the client’s tax identification number (TIN) for that country. In case a TIN is not available, a reason why the TIN is not provided should be included.
- A W-8BEN form in order for us to apply relief at source for US positions and to comply with the regulatory requirements from the IRS. The W-8BEN form is a separate document to the onboarding form and can be found here. This document is mandatory for all clients, regardless of their desire to access U.S. instruments.
- Provide a detailed elaboration of the source of funds / wealth (kindly refer to next section) in order to verify the plausibility and mitigate the risk related to Financial Crime. See below for a more detailed explanation.
- Please sign the opening forms with a pen as representatives/authorized representatives or digitally with, for example, the DocuSign program. For more info about the accepted digital signatures, please click here.
Kindly note that Saxo accepts information provided through Ockto.
Margin Lending activation
Please view the Margin Lending article and documents if you wish to apply for Margin Lending products (Margin lending application has to provided).
US relief at source (W-8BEN)
To comply with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations, Saxo must confirm that none of our clients trading or receiving income from U.S. securities are U.S. residents.
In order to comply with regulatory requirements from the IRS and to ensure we can apply relief at source for US positions, please provide completed W-8BEN form as part of the onboarding application (mandatory). This document acts as a certification of their non-U.S. citizenship status, as required by specific U.S. tax laws.
Please ensure a W-8BEN is attached to the onboarding documentation which can be access here
Please ensure the preparation of supporting documentation during the onboarding process, including the following
Identification and Verification
- Kindly provide copies of a valid passport or National ID card (front and back) for each account holder. As part of our commitment to enhancing security measures and ensuring the authenticity of submitted documents, we no longer accept IDs or passports that contain any covered parts and/or insufficient image quality.
- IDs with watermarks are acceptable if they meet the following conditions:
- The watermark is applied using an app that leaves a transparent mark.
- The watermark does not cover essential information, such as:
- Photo
- Name and last name
- Date of birth
- Expiry date
- Document number
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Alpha-numerical lines at the bottom
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Please Note IDs with watermarks will not be accepted if:
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- Attach proof of residency if residing abroad - a utility bill less than three months old that clearly shows the date, name, and address of the applicant corresponding to this on the application.
- In case of a Pension account ‘an annuity agreement / lijfrenterekening form’ needs to be provided.
US relief at source (W-8BEN)
- Kindly refer to the section above. Providing a completed W-8BEN is mandatory.
Source of Funds and Wealth
Source of Wealth form with supporting documents. Kindly refer to the next section for an overview of possible documents that may be obtained based on the applicable sources of income.
Requirements of Source of Funds / Wealth declarations
In order to minimize the number of additional information requests, please ensure to provide Source of Funds documentation whenever a client exceeds certain minimum criteria:
- In case the client is Self-employed, private executive and/or public executive; AND/OR
- In case a high Intend-to-Invest is declared (For example: ITI for an Intend-to-Invest than EUR 100K, it’s advisable to also include Source of Funds documentation; AND/OR
- Whenever the client has a high net worth and there is the expectation that the investable amount with Saxo will grow overtime (e.g. a net worth of more the EUR 500K) AND/OR
- Whenever the client is active in an Industry with increased Wwft risk.
It is advisable to include an additional explanation regarding the client’s Source of Funds to supplement the provided documentation. This will help us get a better understanding of client’s declared SOF that will be used to fund the Saxo account, and more easily determine if a Risk Based approach can be within reason.
For giving the addition explanation our Source of Wealth declaration / verklaring herkomst vermogen document or the opening forms itself can be used, which you can find in the documentation for end-customers article.
Below is an overview of (possible) documents to be obtained during the onboarding process. Kindly note that this may vary based on the complexity of the cases, and this list is not exhaustive.
Salary/ Income from employment
• Newest finalized Annual Tax Return Incl. employment details
• Copy of three recent salary slips (and bonus payment if applicable) showing the average monthly salary or yearly salary
• Bank statement clearly showing receipt of most recent three months’ regular salary payments from named employer and additional documentary evidence issued by the employer to corroborate the source (such as salary slips, salary statement, employment contract or similar).
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• What is the net annual income of the client.
• What is the client’s position.
• Who is the current employer.
• What is the client’s working history (previous companies).
• How long has the client been working for the current company.
Pension/Income from retirement
• If the client’s pension stems from a private savings, then we must collect all of following: - Bank Statement showing the pension amount, - Documentation of the source of income from which the pension savings was accumulated.
• On the Dutch tax declaration document (IB aangifte), you can find detailed information about pensions. Therefore, this document may be sufficient to understand if the income comes from a pension provider or a private pension plan. The document must be a finalized version.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• What is the working history of the client during his/her working years.
• What was the (average) annual income during the client’s working years.
• What was the function/job of the client.
• Considering the client is now of retirement age potentially other sources of funds apply to the client.
Inheritance
• When inheritance happened within the last 5 years, we should collect a bank statement showing the transaction as evidence.
• Finalized inheritance tax return.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• From when and whom the inheritance has been received.
• Which amount in EUR has been inherited.
• Are there any other heirs aside from the client.
• What is the total value of the estate.
• How was the wealth of the inheritance accumulated.
Trading Profit
• Portfolio statement
• Bank statement showing the transfer between the trading account and the client’s personal account (this is applicable if the transfer happened within the last 5 years). We want to make sure that is the money client is using.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• Since when has the client been investing.
• What has been the total profit/loss.
• Are there any other investment portfolio aside from the one being opened under Saxo.
• What is the value of the current portfolio; and
• What is the source of funds of the invested amount in this portfolio.
Profit from selling own company
• Signed letter from solicitor/lawyer or regulated accountant incl. specifics of the sale i.e. date, amount, ID of the company.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• Which company has been sold.
• In which sector was this company active.
• When was the company sold and for which amount was the company sold.
• What was the average revenue or profit during the active years.
• What was the client’s position within the company.
• How much ownership did the client have during the moment of selling the company; and
• How/when did the client acquire the ownership in this company.
Royalties
• Clients may also have a royalty’s statement, showing the detailed income received.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• Any additional explanation that can help further substantiate the reasoning of the royalties.
Gift/Donation
• Finalized gift tax return (Aangifte schenkbelasting).
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• From whom has the gift/donation been received.
• When has the gift/donation been received.
• Which amount has been gifted.
• What is the reason for the gift/donation.
• What is the source of wealth of the grantor.
Freelancer
• Most Recent and Finalized Tax Statement
• Contracts with the counterparty and bank statements clearly showing the three most recent payments from the counterparty mentioned in the contract.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• Any additional explanation that can help further substantiate the client’s income, sector, working years.
Loan
• Documentation of the transfer of the loan amount from the specified loan provider, such as a bank statement showing the complete transfer amount.
• A description clarifying the purpose of the loan.
• Documentation of how the loan provider accumulated the funds, which have been loaned out. We do not need documentation of the specific funds which were used in the loan, but documentation that may justify that the loan provider had the required liquidity to provide such a loan.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• A description clarifying the purpose of the loan.
Sale of Real Estate
• Signed letter from estate agent (if applicable).
• Copy of sale contract.
• Deed of Notary (Nota van afrekening) AND Invoice/ Bank statement.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• How many properties have been sold.
• When were the properties sold, and for which amount.
• What was the address of the properties.
• For what was the property used (residential home, apartment, company, etc.)
• When and for how much was the property acquired.
• How was the purchase of the property financed.
Rental Income from Real Estate
• A Bank Statement showing the latest 3 months of rental income.
• In case real estate value is between EUR 1.5 Mio and EUR 7.5 Mio or in case there is a minimum of 5 objects, please provide Real Estate form A.
• In case real estate value is above EUR 7.5 Mio, please provide Real Estate form B.
• The commercial The Real Esate Form A and Commercial Real Estate Form B can be found here: Documentation for end-customers
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• How was the client able to finance the purchase of the properties?
• How many properties are rented out.
• What is the rent received per property and since when are the properties rented out.
• For what was the property used (residential home, apartment, company, etc.)
• What are the addresses of the properties.
• What is the current value of the properties.
• For which amount have the properties been acquired.
Insurance payments
• Bank statement evidencing the receival of the insurance payment.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• Any additional explanation that can help further substantiate the type of insurance.
Self-employed income (ZZP’er)
• Most Recent and Finalized Tax Statement
• Contracts with the counterparty and bank statements clearly showing the three most recent payments from the counterparty mentioned in the contract.
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• Any additional explanation that can help further substantiate the client’s income, sector, working years.
Proceeds from lottery/Betting
• Bank statement showing funds deposited by company name
An additional explanation that can be given to the documentation:
• Any additional explanation that can help further substantiate the type of lottery/betting.
Additional requirements for Joint Accounts
The above requirements are applicable also to joint accounts. Below, the additional requirements for joint accounts are listed.
- A different opening form needs to be provided for joint accounts, which can be found here: Documentation for end-customers
- It is possible to open a joint account with a spouse, registered partner, siblings, parent, and children. In order to establish the relationship, we require the following documentation:
- The most common proof is an extract from the Personal Records Database (BRP). This can be requested from the municipality (gemeente) where they live. The extract includes: name, address, date of birth, and nationality. We either need to obtain one extract for each account holder or a joint extract that shows the information for both.
- Alternatively, clients can provide two documents that show both names and the same address (utility bill, joint bank statement, rental agreement, joint tax return, mortgage agreements, car leasing, speed ticket, joint insurance policy, etc).
- Other alternatives includes: Permission Statement for Co-Residence (when a person is moving in with someone else, the main resident often needs to sign a permission statement) or a Cohabitating Agreement (a notarized cohabitating agreement stating that they live together at a specific address).
- Kindly provide copies of a valid passport or national ID card (front and back) for each account holder.
- The W-8BEN form needs to be provided for each account holder separately.
- Email address and phone number need to be different for each account holder.
- Since the joint account(s) will have 100% control over the account, they are both subjected to the complete KYC requirements. Please take this into account when uploading source of funds documentation.
Additional requirements for Minor Accounts
The above requirements regarding single accounts are applicable also to minor accounts. Below, the additional requirements for minor accounts are listed.
- A different opening form needs to be provided for minor accounts, which can be found here: Documentation for end-customers
- The W-8BEN form needs to be provided in the name of the minor client. Either one of the legal guarding can sign the W-8BEN.
- Email address and phone number need to be different for each legal guardian.
- Kindly provide copies of a valid passport or national ID card (front and back) for each account holder.
- Regarding the minor, the following requirements apply to verify the identity:
- Copies of a valid passport or national ID card (front and back) for each legal guardian.
- Copy of a valid passport or national ID card (front and back) of the minor, in case this is available.
- If the minor does not have proof of identity, then a birth certificate or other equivalent documentation would suffice. This is the preferred option.
- In the cases where there is no passport or birth certificate available for minors, we can accept an ‘afschrift persoonsregister’ from BRP (as an alternative POI), which is an official document that can be obtained by clients in all municipalities in NL and contains all the information we require to properly identify the minor. This option can apply in case of unavailability of a birth certificate.
- As a further alternative (not the preferred approach), a client can login to the government website with their Digid. In the section ‘Familie’, the children are listed. A full screenshot, preferably from a PC/laptop (not from mobile phone) and with high quality showing both names of the children and legal guardians can be provided.
- Since the legal guardian(s) will have 100% control over the minor account, they are (both) subjected to the complete KYC requirements. Please take this into account when uploading source of funds documentation.
- Stamped proof that the donation/gift has been reported to the Tax Authorities (Aangifte schenkbelasting), if the first funding comes from an account in the parent/guardian's name.
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