Why does the UK bank suddenly ask for additional documents? How to respond to account review? How long will it take?

"...scrutiny of transactions undertaken throughout the course of the relationship... including, where necessary, the source of funds"
——"Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017" regulation 28(11)(a)

The term "throughout the course of the relationship" in the regulations has no time limit. An account opened for eight years, with salaries regularly coming in and going out, the bank can still change your online banking to read-only on a certain Tuesday morning, then pop up a message asking you to upload documents. It doesn't need anything to happen; it's just that your file has reached the review cycle, or a certain deposit falls within the model threshold.

First, distinguish which type is triggered.

🔍 One type is periodic KYC rechecks, which become more frequent as the risk rating increases; the second type is fund movements, such as overseas transfers, cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals, and cash deposits that do not match known income sources; the third type is the easiest to overlook, which is expired identity information. The Immigration Act 2014, sections 40A-40C prohibit banks from opening current accounts for "disqualified persons". Since January 1, 2018, this verification has been extended to existing current accounts. Banks compare with the Home Office list through Cifas and run it regularly. After BRP fully transitions to eVisa, the "document expiry date" in the bank system will expire first, so you will be asked to provide a share code generated by the UKVI account. This type of document submission has nothing to do with money laundering, and it can be unlocked on the same day it is submitted - misidentifying the type will cause unnecessary anxiety for two weeks.

Submit additional documents, or apply again with another bank

Line breaks look clean, but the cost is underestimated. Opening a new bank account requires going through KYC again. Proof of address must be within 3 months, with complete name and address that are readable. PDFs exported by yourself via online banking are often rejected. Most institutions do not accept mobile phone bills, and driver's licenses are generally not allowed to serve as both identity and address proof. Direct deposit, rent deduction, and other automatic payments need to be re-arranged, and automatic renewal for rental and car insurance is most likely to break here. Worse still, in another scenario: if the original bank has already submitted a suspicious activity report to NCA regarding a certain payment, if you transfer a large amount of balance during this window, the nature of the transaction will immediately change, and the bank is legally not allowed to give you any warning (tipping off is a criminal offense), and you cannot see this layer at all on the interface.

Staying in the original line and making up for it is the lowest cost path. The key is to make up for it "correctly," not just making up a lot.

Add two more actions: All materials must be uploaded through the APP or online banking's secure channel, don't use regular email; every time you upload, add a sentence in the conversation "X files have been uploaded on ", to leave yourself a timestamp. Attach one A4 page of the fund timeline, with date, amount, counterparty, and purpose, matching each deposit that might be questioned in the statement. Reviewers look at dozens of files a day, being understandable is more useful than being thick. Before receiving the official termination notice XX0YY, do not move out actively. if unsure which document counts as source of funds, spend £5 on justiscript.com to get a written response from a UK-qualified lawyer within 24 hours, which is more efficient than guessing and sending three rounds by yourself.

After the payment, there is no response. From which day should we start counting?

The review itself has no statutory time limit, but the complaint does. After a formal complaint, the firm has a maximum of 8 weeks to provide a final response according to FCA Handbook DISP 1.6; within 6 months from the date of the final response, it can be referred free of charge to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

If the account is frozen entirely, and customer service repeatedly says "cannot provide more information," it's most likely going through the POCA 2002 route: after NCA receives DAML, it has 7 working days to decide whether to release it. If not released, it enters a 31 calendar day moratorium period. The court may extend it by another 31 days each time under section 336A, up to a maximum of 186 days. During this time, don't expect any explanation. It's more useful to change your salary to another card and keep all conversation records.

The last thing that was widely misunderstood this year. The Payment Services and Payment Accounts (Contract Termination) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 came into effect on April 28, 2026, extending the account closure notice period from 2 months to 90 days, and requiring "sufficiently detailed and specific" reasons. However, the regulations limit the scope to framework contracts entered into on or after that day. The account opened in 2019 is not within the scope of protection, still requiring a 2-month notice period without needing to specify a particular reason. Therefore, what truly covers you is not the new regulation, but the timeline and upload records left on the day you submitted the documents.

📌 This article is for reference only. For specific issues, please consult a licensed attorney.

[Data source] legislation.gov.uk: Money Laundering Regulations 2017 reg.28; legislation.gov.uk: The Payment Services and Payment Accounts (Contract Termination) (Amendment) Regulations 2025; financial-ombudsman.org.uk: Bank account closures

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