By Legal Futures’ Associate DPS Software
As it’s nearly Christmas, let’s start with a Christmas Cracker joke.
Q: What did the unscrupulous solicitor get for Christmas?
A: Suspended by the SRA for not completing Client Due Diligence adequately while working from home.
I know, don’t give up the day job, but I’m sure by now you get the point of this article.
When you are working from home and can’t have face to face contact with new clients, how can you be sure they are who they say they are?
You still have an obligation to complete CDD and must verify that client’s ID, but you’ll probably have to use alternative methods to what you would normally do in the office.
There are many electronic ways of verifying your clients’ identity and performing anti-money laundering checks, but you’ll still need to understand how these work and how these systems reached the conclusion that they did. Just relying on a system telling you that an identity has been verified is not enough. You are still liable, so you need to be sure.
You can find out more about your CDD obligations and how you can fulfill them while working from home in our free webinar on Wednesday 16th December. Join our Regulatory Director, Brian Rogers, and Sales Executive, Mehmet Ismail, as they discuss what you need to do and how we can help you to do it.
Even if you can’t attend on the day, register anyway and we’ll send you a copy of the recording.
