Source of Wealth Checks: A Conveyancer's Guide to Getting It Right

Source of wealth (SoW) verification is one of the most challenging aspects of AML compliance for conveyancers. Unlike identity verification — which has clear, binary outcomes — source of wealth assessment requires judgement, documentation, and a willingness to ask uncomfortable questions.

What Regulators Actually Expect

The LSAG guidance is clear: conveyancers must understand not just where the funds for a transaction are coming from (source of funds), but how the client accumulated their overall wealth (source of wealth). These are different questions, and both need documented answers.

For a purchase funded by a mortgage plus savings, you need to understand: Where the deposit funds are held and how they were accumulated Whether any gifted deposits have been properly documented How the client's declared income supports their overall financial position Whether there are any red flags that warrant enhanced due diligence

Common Pitfalls

Accepting declarations at face value. "I saved it from my salary" is a starting point, not an endpoint. Regulators expect you to consider whether the declared savings are plausible given the client's income and lifestyle.

Focusing only on source of funds. Tracing the deposit money is important, but it's not sufficient. If a client has £500,000 in savings on a £40,000 salary, the source of those savings needs explanation — even if the specific purchase funds come from a legitimate mortgage.

Inconsistent documentation. Even thorough checks are useless if the reasoning isn't documented. When an audit trail matters, you need contemporaneous records of what you checked, what you found, and why you were satisfied.

How AI Can Help

AIpowered source of wealth verification doesn't replace professional judgement — but it ensures nothing gets missed. An AI agent can:

• Crossreference declared wealth against documentation provided
• Calculate whether savings claims are plausible based on income data
• Identify inconsistencies that warrant further investigation
• Generate structured SoW assessment reports aligned with LSAG guidance
• Flag enhanced due diligence triggers automatically

The key benefit is systematic coverage. While a conveyancer might focus on the most obvious risk factors under time pressure, an AI agent checks everything, every time.

Building a Robust Process

Whether or not you use AI tools, your SoW process should include:

1. Standardised questionnaire — ask the same questions of every client 2. Document matrix — define what evidence is required for each wealth category 3. Plausibility assessment — document why you're satisfied (or not) 4. Riskbased enhanced measures — know when to dig deeper 5. Complete records — maintain a full audit trail for regulatory scrutiny

LexSentinel's WealthVerify™

WealthVerify™ automates the systematic elements of SoW checking, so conveyancers can focus their professional judgement where it matters most. Join the Priority Access list to be first in line when it launches, or explore our tools to see AIpowered compliance in action today.