Proof of Address

The majority of jurisdictions require that financial services collect, validate and verify the address of a customer. This proof of address provides another data point for assurance and also provides the anchor to the high-risk countries' screening process.

In a practical example, Under Section 11 of the German AML Act (GwG), as part of the required customer due diligence measures, financial institutions shall collect the residential address of their customers. The same is established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in section 6.6 of Notice 824.

What is proof of address?

While the verification of attributes such as name and date of birth can rely on government-issued ID documents, equipped with security features to avoid forgery and misrepresentation, there is no standard official document upon which financial institutions can rely to verify the address of their customers. In fact, even when ID documents contain the address of their holder, it is not certain that it corresponds to their actual current address. Thus, it is of the utmost importance to implement a proof of address method that mitigates the risk of fraud and money laundering and is also sensible in what it demands of customers.