When a firm asks for source of funds it is asking you to show the legitimate origin of a particular sum. The polite version arrives as a list. The stressful version arrives as a freeze and a deadline. You can prepare the list yourself by naming the origin honestly and finding the paper that would convince a stranger.
Origins and the papers that usually sit with them
Employment income: payslips or tax documents, plus statements showing pay arriving over time. A one-off bonus wants the letter that awarded it. Self-employment wants invoices, accounts or tax filings, not only a transfer from your own company that has no context.
A property sale: the contract and the completion statement, and the credit from the lawyer or notary into your account. Savings built over years: statements that show the build-up, not a single page with a large balance. An inheritance: the grant or local equivalent, and the executor’s payment. A gift: identification of the giver and evidence of their source. A loan: the agreement and the lender’s payment.
The chain matters more than one page
Money that moved through two accounts needs both statements if the firm cannot see the first. A company in the middle needs to be explained: whose company, and why it paid you. Name differences need a one-line explanation and, if you have it, the document that shows both names. Translating a key page is sometimes required. Ask before you translate the whole archive.
Who else asks
On a property purchase the lawyer or notary may want the same story the bank wants, for their own duties. Give them a consistent explanation. Two different stories for the same money is how a simple file becomes a long one.
Source of funds is the story of this payment
Source of funds is the explanation of where the particular money in a transfer came from. Source of wealth is the broader explanation of how you came to have the means. Banks sometimes ask for one, sometimes both, and they do not all use the labels the same way. When a form uses the words, ask which payment or which history they want described. Then match the document to that question rather than sending a pile and hoping.
A salary is shown differently from a property sale, a dividend, a gift or an inheritance. The document might be payslips and a statement, a completion statement, company accounts, a gift letter, or a grant of probate. Which of those a firm will accept is their decision. Ask before you notarize a stack of papers they did not request. If a gift is involved, the giver may be asked for their own explanation. Warn them.
Keep a version you can send again
The same money is often explained more than once: to the firm that sends it, to the bank that receives it, and later to a lender if you buy property. Keep a clean set of copies and a two-paragraph narrative in your own words that matches the documents. Dates and amounts should agree. A mismatch is not usually sinister, but it does cause questions.
Privacy still matters. Send what was asked for, through the channel the firm specifies, and avoid emailing a full passport and a year’s statements to a personal inbox because it felt quicker. If you are unsure whether a request is genuine, contact the firm on a number you already have, not on a number in the email that asked. That caution is ordinary fraud hygiene, not a reflection on any one bank.
A practical checklist
- One sentence: this money came from X.
- The document that created X.
- Statements showing X reaching the sending account.
- An explanation of any account in between.
- The same pack for a gift’s giver, if there is one.
- Copies you can resend without hunting.
Questions to ask
- Is this a source-of-funds request or a wider source-of-wealth request?
- Which period of statements do you want?
- Do you need documents from the person who paid me?
- Will a translation be required?
- Is a certified copy necessary, or is a scan enough to start?
Common mistakes
- Sending a statement and nothing else.
- A gift described as savings.
- Different explanations to the lawyer and the bank.
- Waiting until the money is already in transit.
- Discarding completion statements because the sale ‘is finished’.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
