AML / KYC policy

1. Introduction: why these procedures exist

Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures are the legal and practical backbone of any financial service. KYC establishes who you are; AML watches for patterns associated with laundering the proceeds of crime or financing terrorism (countering the financing of terrorism, or CFT, is the companion discipline). For you, these checks are the reason a stolen identity cannot quietly open an account in your name.

Verification happens before your first deposit is released for trading, and monitoring continues quietly for the life of the account. The goals are simple: prevent fraud, protect genuine users, comply with the requirements applicable to our services in Singapore, and reduce financial risk for everyone on the platform.

2. What KYC means in practice

KYC is the identification of a client and confirmation that the details provided are true and current. In practice we establish your legal name, date of birth, nationality and residential address, and we confirm them against documents issued by trusted authorities. Where required, we also confirm that you are acting for yourself and not on behalf of an undisclosed third party.

Verification is not a one-off formality. Details expire: passports lapse, addresses change, and names change after marriage. We ask you to keep your record current, and periodic refreshes of identity data are part of the standard cycle for financial services.

3. What AML means in practice

AML is the ongoing work of preventing the platform from being used to disguise the origin of criminal money. It has three ingredients: a risk assessment of each client and each business relationship, monitoring of transactions against what is expected for that client, and reporting of suspicious activity to the competent authority through the established channels.

What this means for a normal user: almost nothing, and that is the point. Monitoring runs in the background, and the vast majority of accounts never trigger a single question. When activity does look inconsistent with what we know about you, we ask, and the questions have a lawful purpose behind them.

4. Why identity verification is required

Verification protects four groups at once. It protects you, because an account tied to a verified identity is far harder for a criminal to open in your name or to take over. It protects other users, because a verified community keeps fraudsters out. It protects the platform, which must know its clients to operate lawfully. And it aligns with the applicable Singapore requirements for client identification and record keeping.

It also speeds up the things you want to do. A fully verified account withdraws without repeated document requests, because the checks are already done; an unverified one cannot withdraw at all. Verification is not an obstacle on the way to trading, it is the fast lane.

5. Documents we actually ask for

Identity: a current government-issued photo document, which in practice means a Singapore NRIC for citizens and permanent residents, or a passport for others; foreign ID cards are accepted where they carry a photograph, document number and expiry date. Address: a document issued within the last three months showing your name and residential address, typically a bank statement, utility bill or official government correspondence.

Where a check requires it, we may ask for a short selfie or a liveness capture, a real-time image that confirms the person presenting the document is alive and present, rather than a photograph of a photograph. We only use document types we actually process; we will never ask for documents unrelated to identity or address, such as card PINs or full bank credentials.

6. The verification process, step by step

Step one: register your account with your name, email and phone number. Step two: upload your identity document and, when requested, your address document through the encrypted verification flow in the platform. Step three: automatic checks compare the documents with trusted data sources and screen the details against sanctions and watchlists.

Step four: a manual review by our compliance team where the automatic checks are inconclusive, the document quality is borderline, or the risk assessment calls for it. Step five: you receive the result, and on approval your deposit is released for trading. You can follow the status of every step in the platform, so you are never left wondering where your application stands.

7. Enhanced due diligence

Certain situations call for enhanced due diligence (EDD): politically exposed persons and their family members, clients from higher-risk jurisdictions, complex or unusually large transactions that have no clear economic purpose, and cases where information sourced during standard checks raises questions. EDD means more documentation and more questions, not an accusation.

EDD may include proof of the source of funds (for example, a salary letter, a sale contract or an inheritance document), details of your occupation and expected activity, or additional identity corroboration. We tell you what is needed and why at the level the rules allow, and we apply EDD proportionately, never as a blanket burden on every user.

8. How long verification takes

Most straightforward cases complete automatically within minutes of a clear upload, and the median manual review resolves within one business day. Cases that need EDD or follow-up documents naturally take longer, and exact timing depends on how quickly requested information reaches us.

Three things stretch every timeline: photographs of documents taken at an angle or in poor light, documents with edges cropped out, and uploads that do not match the registered name exactly. A flat document on a dark surface, all four corners visible, all data legible, is the fastest path through the process.

9. Why verification can be declined or paused

The common reasons are practical: the document is expired, unreadable or damaged; the name on the document differs from the registered name without an explanation; the address document is older than three months or does not show the required details; or pages of a document are missing. Pauses of this kind are resolved by a better upload, and our support team tells you precisely what fell short.

More serious grounds include suspected forgery or alteration of documents, details that match sanctions lists, an unwillingness to explain the source of funds when lawfully asked, and indications that the account is controlled by a third party. In these cases verification is declined and, where the law requires it, the matter is escalated. A decline is specific to the facts of the case, and you may ask for the reason through the complaints procedure.

10. Transaction monitoring

Deposits, withdrawals, transfers between strategies and trading activity are monitored against your client profile: the amounts we would expect, the methods you normally use, and the pattern of your activity. Monitoring looks for the unusual rather than the large; a sudden change in behaviour on a small account is as interesting as a big transfer on a large one.

Where monitoring flags something, possible consequences include a request for information, a temporary pause on specific functions such as withdrawals while the question is resolved, and, in the rare cases that warrant it, a report to the competent authority. Limits placed while a question is open are protective, explained to you, and lifted as soon as the matter resolves.

11. Your responsibilities as an account holder

You are responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of everything you provide. That obligation is continuous: details that were true at registration must stay true, and changes of name or address should reach us promptly. Using the account in your own name, for your own activity, is a condition of service.

Providing false, borrowed or fabricated information, allowing another person to operate your account, or using the platform to move money that is not lawfully yours are breaches of this policy. The consequences range from verification failure and account closure to retention of records for the authorities; where criminal conduct is suspected, we report it. There is no version of this where assisting a friend "to pass verification" ends well for either of you.

12. Storage and protection of verification data

Verification records are stored encrypted, with access limited to the compliance functions that need them and logged in the audit trail. Retention follows the periods required by the applicable Singapore requirements for customer due diligence records, which continue after the relationship ends. The full detail of how all personal data is handled, including your rights, is in the Privacy Policy.

Documents you upload live inside the verification system, not in general storage or email inboxes. That is the reason we ask you never to send identity documents by email: email sits outside these controls. If anyone asks you to do that, it is either an error or a fraudster, and both deserve a report.

13. Who receives verification data

To run these checks we work with providers who perform identity verification, document authentication and screening, and with the IT providers that host and secure the systems. Within these categories, data is shared strictly to the extent each function requires. Affiliated companies involved in providing the service may receive what is necessary for their role.

Disclosure to regulators and government authorities happens where the applicable requirements oblige it, for example in response to a lawful request or a reporting duty. We do not sell verification data, and we do not share it with marketing partners. The categories of recipients and the safeguards applied to each are set out in the Privacy Policy.

14. Compliance with applicable requirements

StraitsVault AI applies these procedures within the Singapore requirements for the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism administered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), together with the relevant obligations for client identification, record keeping and suspicious transaction reporting, including reporting to the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office where required. Personal data handling follows the Personal Data Protection Act.

We name these frameworks as the applicable context for our procedures, not as a claim of any particular registration status. Our approach is stated plainly on the Licensing & Regulation page, and we are happy to answer specific questions by email before you register.

15. Contact for KYC and AML questions

Questions about verification status, requested documents, or any part of this policy go to [email protected], marked for the attention of the Client Support & Compliance department. We answer during support hours, Monday to Friday, 9:00–18:00 SGT, usually within one business hour.

If a compliance request ever feels unclear or excessive, say so in writing. Compliance serves you as much as the rules: clear answers, documented decisions and a straight explanation of what we need and why are part of the service, not an exception to it.