Keeping currency clean, and honest customers protected
As a money service business, we take the rules on financial crime seriously. This page sets out, in plain English, how a service like UK Exchange Network handles anti-money-laundering checks, sanctions screening, customer due diligence and the safeguarding of your money.
This is a demonstration. UK Exchange Network is a brand concept shown on the domain ukex.net, which is offered for sale. No currency is actually dealt, no payments are processed and the registration details below are illustrative. The framework here is written to show how a real, well-run money service business would approach financial-crime controls — it is not regulatory advice.
Six checks that work quietly in the background
Most orders sail through without a second thought. Behind the scenes, a layered set of controls keeps criminal money out and your order moving.
Identity checks
We confirm who we are dealing with. For larger orders that means verifying your name, address and date of birth before currency is released.
Sanctions screening
Every customer is screened against UK sanctions lists, so no order can be fulfilled for a person or entity that is prohibited.
Record-keeping
Order and identity records are retained securely for the period the law requires, then deleted. We keep what we must and no more.
Safeguarding
Customer funds are kept separate from the firm's own money, so your payment is protected while your order is prepared and posted.
Source of funds
On higher-value or unusual orders we may ask a few simple questions about where the money has come from. It is routine, not personal.
A trained team
Our people are trained to spot the signs of fraud and money laundering, supported by a dedicated compliance officer and clear procedures.
What our compliance programme covers
Buying and selling foreign cash is, for almost everyone, a perfectly ordinary thing to do before a holiday. A small number of people, though, try to use currency services to move the proceeds of crime or to dodge sanctions. The controls below exist to stop that, and they are designed to be as light a touch as possible for the honest traveller.
Registered with HMRC
A currency-delivery business of this kind would operate as a registered Money Service Business, supervised by HM Revenue & Customs for anti-money-laundering purposes. In this demonstration, the illustrative entity is UKEX Currency Services Ltd, registered in England & Wales (Company No. 15829004) and registered with HMRC as a Money Service Business. That supervision sets the standard the whole programme is built around.
Customer due diligence and KYC
"Know your customer" simply means making sure we know who we are dealing with before we hand over currency. For smaller, everyday orders the checks are quick and mostly invisible. As the value of an order rises, or where something looks out of the ordinary, we carry out fuller due diligence and may ask you to confirm your identity with a document such as a passport or driving licence.
- Standard orders — basic verification runs in the background as you check out.
- Larger orders — we ask you to verify your identity before the currency is released, in line with the thresholds set by the rules.
- Enhanced checks — reserved for higher-risk situations, where we may request more detail before proceeding.
Ongoing monitoring
Compliance is not a one-off box-tick at checkout. Activity is monitored over time so that patterns which do not add up — orders that are unusually large, oddly frequent, or inconsistent with what we would expect — can be reviewed by a person. Most reviews end quietly with no action needed.
Sanctions and PEP screening
Before an order is fulfilled, customers are screened against the UK's financial sanctions lists and checked for politically exposed person (PEP) status. Where a match needs looking at, the order is paused for review rather than waved through. This keeps the service out of the hands of anyone it is not permitted to serve.
Suspicious activity reporting
If, despite all of the above, we have a genuine concern that a transaction may be linked to money laundering or other financial crime, we have a legal duty to report it. Such reports are made confidentially to the National Crime Agency (NCA) through the firm's Money Laundering Reporting Officer. We do not discuss the detail of any report with the customer concerned, and we follow the law on when an order may proceed.
Keeping records, then letting them go
We retain the records of identity checks and transactions for the period set down in law — generally several years after our relationship with a customer ends — and then securely delete them. Holding accurate records means we can answer a legitimate query from a supervisor or law-enforcement body; deleting them on schedule means we are not sitting on your personal data longer than we should. Our privacy policy explains how that information is handled.
Keeping your money safe
The money you pay for an order is treated as your money until your currency is on its way. It is kept separate from the firm's own funds, so it is protected while your order is being prepared and posted. Notes themselves are held in secure, insured facilities and travel by tracked, signed-for Royal Mail Special Delivery — the same care applies whether you are buying currency or posting leftover cash back to us.
How this protects you
It is easy to see anti-money-laundering checks as red tape. In practice they work in your favour. They keep criminal money out of the system you are using, make the service a harder target for fraudsters, and protect honest customers from being caught up in someone else's wrongdoing. The occasional request for ID on a larger order is a small price for a clean, trustworthy service — and we aim to make every check as quick and respectful as it can be.
Quick for honest orders
The vast majority of orders pass through with no extra steps at all. Checks scale with risk, not with suspicion of you.
Your data, handled with care
Identity details are encrypted, kept only as long as the law requires, and never sold. See our privacy policy.
Real people to ask
If a check holds up your order, our team will tell you exactly what is needed. Support runs 7 days a week, 8am to 8pm.
Questions about our checks?
If you would like to know more about how we approach anti-money-laundering, sanctions or the safeguarding of your money — or you need help completing an identity check — our compliance team is happy to help. Email contact@ukex.net or call us on +1 808 517 5677, 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.