Not upheld: account restrictions and source of wealth verification complaint against Trading 212 UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C complained that Trading 212 UK Limited unfairly restricted his trading account and requested unnecessary documentation to verify his source of wealth. T212 restricted the account around March 2025 and requested a bank statement to verify the source of deposits Mr C was making. When Mr C provided a digital scan of a bank statement, T212 could not ascertain the ultimate source of the invested funds and requested an original PDF statement instead. Mr C objected, citing inconvenience and ill health, and complained to the FOS. The ombudsman found that T212 had strict regulatory obligations under FCA rules to verify customer funds and that its request for an original PDF statement was reasonable and within its contractual discretion, even though it was inconvenient for Mr C.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that T212 had strict regulatory obligations under FCA rules and anti-money laundering regulations to verify the source of customer funds. Given the level and regularity of Mr C's deposits, it was reasonable for T212 to request clarification on the source of wealth. The bank statement Mr C initially provided did not clearly show the ultimate source of the invested funds, as credits appeared to come from matured investments elsewhere. T212's terms and conditions gave it wide discretion to request information to comply with regulatory obligations. The request for an original PDF statement rather than a scan was not unreasonable, as firms typically request documentation from original sources. Although Mr C found this inconvenient and difficult due to his health, the ombudsman found no evidence that Mr C attempted to obtain the original PDF statements through his bank's online services or by contacting the bank directly for assistance.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website