KYC File Preparation Services Get Your Onboarding Approved Without Repeated Requests

For Individuals

• Passport, certified and within validity
• Proof of address dated within three months
• Curriculum vitae covering the full working life without gaps
• Tax residence declaration
• Evidence of the wealth behind the relationship
• Identity verification through a recognised certifier

For Corporate Structures

• Certificate of incorporation, plus certificates of directors, shareholders and registered office
• Memorandum and articles
• Latest audited accounts, or management accounts where the entity is young
• Ownership chart tracing to natural persons
• Board resolution authorising the relationship
• Documentation for every beneficial owner above the applicable threshold

For Trusts and Foundations

• The deed, or a certified extract where confidentiality applies
• Settlor, trustee, protector and beneficiary documentation
• Evidence of how the structure was funded

Source of Funds

Where the specific money in this transaction came from. A bank statement showing the transfer, the sale agreement behind it, the loan drawdown.

Source of Wealth

How the applicant became wealthy in the first place, across a career or a lifetime. Considerably harder to evidence and considerably more important.

Standard

Applies to most relationships: identity, ownership, purpose and expected activity.

Simplified

Available for lower-risk counterparties such as listed companies and regulated entities, though the reduction is in depth rather than in principle.

Enhanced

EDD applies where jurisdiction, sector, structure complexity or the applicant’s profile raises exposure. Expect deeper wealth evidence and senior sign-off.

Individuals and Families

Typically opening banking, establishing a structure, or responding to a review of an existing relationship.

Companies Seeking Banking

Where the ownership chain crosses several jurisdictions, and nobody has ever documented it end to end.

Regulated Firms Outsourcing

Professional practices, funds and payment institutions that need onboarding documentation prepared to a consistent standard without adding headcount.

Handled by C. Savva & Associates

• Interpreting what the institution has actually asked for
• Obtaining certificates and extracts from registries at source
• Certification and apostille coordination
• Sworn translation management
• Building and writing the wealth chronology
• Sanctions, adverse media and exposure checks
• Assembly, indexing and submission
• Handling follow-up questions through to approval

Retained by You

• Honest disclosure of the full ownership chain, including anything awkward
• Supplying historical records only you hold
• Signing declarations personally
• Telling us about prior refusals, which we will discover anyway

Working With Our Partner Law Firm

C. Savva & Associates is not a law firm. For matters requiring legal expertise, the firm works alongside its partner law firm Nicholas Ktenas & Co., LLC, which provides legal counsel on corporate and commercial law, banking and finance, data protection, intellectual property, employment law, and trusts.

Start by establishing precisely what the institution requires, since correspondent banks frequently impose conditions above local minimums. Gather identity and address evidence, then ownership documentation tracing to natural persons. Build a written wealth chronology covering the applicant’s whole working life, supported by contracts, accounts, tax returns and transaction records. Run sanctions and adverse media checks and record the results. Assemble everything as an indexed submission with a covering narrative rather than as loose attachments.

The customer identification programme establishes who the person or entity is. Customer due diligence assesses the relationship’s purpose, expected activity and exposure level. Enhanced due diligence applies additional depth where jurisdiction, structure or profile warrants it. Ongoing monitoring tracks activity against the declared profile and refreshes documentation periodically. Record-keeping and reporting preserve evidence of every step and escalate suspicious activity to the relevant authority. Institutions vary the labels, but the sequence is consistent.

It is the complete documentary record an institution holds justifying its decision to accept and maintain a relationship. It contains verified identity evidence, ownership structure, the wealth narrative with supporting documents, exposure assessment, screening results and internal approvals. Its purpose is defensive: when a regulator examines the institution, this record demonstrates that reasonable steps were taken. That is why reviewers care about coherence and completeness rather than merely receiving documents.

A customer acceptance policy setting out which relationships the institution will and will not take on. Customer identification procedures establishing and verifying who counterparties actually are. Transaction monitoring comparing activity against expected patterns and flagging divergence. Risk management tying the whole framework together through classification, periodic review and escalation. Some frameworks add a fifth element covering training and internal audit, and regulated firms are generally expected to evidence all of it.

Usually because the wealth narrative has a gap the reviewer cannot close on their own. A career spanning thirty years explained through five years of payslips leaves twenty-five years unaccounted for. Figures that do not reconcile across documents produce the same effect. Each round of questions costs weeks, which is why building the chronology properly at the outset almost always proves faster than responding reactively to whatever arrives next.

Often, yes. Refusals rarely stem from the applicant being unacceptable, and far more commonly from evidence that failed to demonstrate what it needed to. We review what was submitted, identify what the institution was actually unable to satisfy itself about, and rebuild accordingly. Whether to reapply to the same institution or approach another depends on how the refusal was recorded. Bring the correspondence, and we will advise on both.