Where Did the Money Come From? Source of Funds Requests, Explained

2026-10-15

The Email Nobody Likes Getting

A large payment lands in your account, or you're about to send one, and a message arrives from your bank or payment provider: please explain where these funds came from and send supporting documents. Sometimes the payment sits on hold while they wait.

It's easy to read that as suspicion. Mostly it isn't. Asking about the origin of money is a routine part of anti-money-laundering rules in the EU, the UK and almost everywhere else, and providers that handle international payments ask more often than a local high-street bank does. The request itself is rarely the problem. A slow, vague or patchy answer is.

Below is what you're actually being asked, what tends to count as proof, and how to reply so the matter closes on the first round.

Source of Funds and Source of Wealth Are Different Questions

The two terms get mixed up all the time, sometimes even by the people asking.

Source of funds is about a specific amount of money: this transfer, this deposit, this balance. Where did these 40,000 euros come from? The sale of a flat, a dividend, a client payment, savings from salary.

Source of wealth is broader. It asks how you came to have your overall financial position: a career, a business you built and sold, an inheritance, years of investing. It comes up mainly in enhanced checks, for larger relationships, higher-risk profiles and politically exposed persons.

The difference matters for your reply. If you're asked about source of funds, send the paper trail for that money. A CV and a general description of your career answers a different question, and usually brings a second request.

Why You're Being Asked

A few things commonly prompt the question:

• a payment much larger than your account's usual activity;
• money from a person or company you haven't dealt with before;
• funds coming from a country or sector the provider treats as higher risk;
• activity that doesn't match what you said the account would be used for when you opened it;
• a periodic review of your file, which happens even when nothing has changed.

The fourth one deserves attention. When you open an account, you describe expected turnover, typical counterparties and what the account is for. Compliance teams compare real activity against that picture. If your business has grown or changed direction, telling your provider before the big payments start saves a lot of back and forth.

Don't expect these questions to fade. The EU's new Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies directly in every member state from 10 July 2027 and puts customer due diligence under one rulebook. If anything, requests will become more standard across providers.

What Usually Counts as Evidence

Requirements differ between providers and depend on the amount and the risk, but the evidence tends to come from a familiar list:

• Salary or income: recent payslips, an employment contract, a tax return.
• Sale of property: the signed sale contract and the statement showing the proceeds arriving.
• Sale of a business or shares: the sale agreement and the payment trail.
• Dividends: the company's dividend resolution and the matching bank statement.
• Inheritance: the will or grant of probate, plus the transfer from the estate.
• Loan: the loan agreement and the payout.
• Gift: a letter from the person giving it, and often some evidence of where their money came from.
• Savings: bank statements covering the period over which they built up.

Two habits make any of these stronger. First, show the money moving, not just the event. A sale contract proves a sale; the statement with the funds landing ties it to your account. Second, send complete documents. A statement with pages missing, or cropped down to one line, often comes straight back.

For Businesses: The Money Behind the Company

A company account adds a layer. The provider wants to understand where the company's own money comes from, which usually means the invoices and contracts behind large incoming payments, and sometimes financial statements. For start-up capital, or a big injection from the owners, the question often moves one step back to the shareholders: where did the person who funded the company get the money?

Keep the contract, the invoice and the payment record together for every significant client. When a request arrives, you can answer in an hour instead of a week.

Crypto Proceeds Need the Most Paper

Money that started as crypto isn't a red flag in itself, but it's where the trail breaks most easily. A provider will usually want the full chain: how the crypto was acquired (purchase records, or income received in crypto), the wallet history, the exchange where it was sold, and the withdrawal from that exchange to your account.

Exchange statements and transaction exports do most of the work. If your coins have moved between several wallets over the years, a short written explanation of the route, with transaction hashes, helps more than a folder of screenshots.

How to Answer Without Making It Worse

• Answer the exact question. If they ask about one payment, explain that payment.
• Add a short cover note. Two or three sentences: what the money is, where it came from, which documents prove it.
• Keep the numbers consistent. Amounts, dates and names should match across the contract, the statement and your note. Unexplained gaps cause more follow-up than anything else.
• Check the language. A document the reviewer can't read may not be accepted as it is. Ask whether a translation is needed.
• Don't send anything you can't stand behind. An edited or improvised document causes far more trouble than a slower, honest answer. If a document doesn't exist, say so and offer what you do have.
• Reply promptly. A payment on hold usually stays on hold until the question is answered.

How This Works at Polydirection

Polydirection reviews every application individually rather than relying only on automated rules, and crypto, gambling, forex and dating businesses work with a dedicated manager. That's useful when a question about funds arrives. If you're not sure what a request needs, ask before you send anything. A five-minute clarification costs less than a second round of documents.

And if you know a large or unusual payment is coming, a property sale, an investment round, a big new client, mention it in advance. A payment that was expected is much easier to clear than one that comes out of nowhere.