Why does the UK bank suddenly ask for additional documents? How to respond to account review and 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 regulation does not set a time limit. An account that has been open for eight years, with salaries regularly coming in and going out, can still have its online banking changed 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 has fallen within the model threshold.

First, clarify which type of trigger it is.

🔍 One type is periodic KYC review, which becomes more frequent as the risk rating increases; the second type is fund movement, such as overseas transfers, crypto deposits and withdrawals, and cash deposits that do not match known income; the third type is the easiest to be ignored, 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 has fully transitioned to eVisa, the "document expiry date" in the bank system will expire first, so you need 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 - admitting the wrong 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. Address proof is required within 3 months, with complete and readable name and address. PDFs exported by yourself 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. Salary deposits, Direct Debit, and rent deductions need to be re-arranged, and automatic renewals for rental and car insurance are most likely to break here. Worse still, in another scenario: if your previous bank has already submitted a suspicious activity report to NCA regarding a certain payment, and 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 will not see this layer at all on the interface.

Staying in the original line to make up is the lowest cost way. The key is to make up "correctly", not to make up a lot.

Add two more actions: All materials must be uploaded through the APP or online banking's secure channel, do not use regular email; after each upload, add a sentence in the conversation "uploaded X documents on a certain day", to leave yourself a timestamp. Attach a page of A4 with a timeline of funds, including date, amount, counterparty, and purpose, matching each deposit that might be questioned in the statement. Underwriters look at dozens of files a day, being understandable is more useful than being thick. Before receiving formal termination notice , do not move out actively. If you are 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 uploading three times.

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

The review itself has no statutory time limit, but the complaint does. After a formal complaint, the firm has up to 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 completely frozen and customer service repeatedly says "can't provide more information," it's most likely going through the POCA 2002 route: after NCA receives DAML, it has 7 business days to decide whether to release it. If not released, it enters a 31 calendar day moratorium period, and the court may extend it by another 31 days under section 336A each time, up to a maximum of 186 days. During this time, don't expect explanations; it's more useful to change your salary to another card and keep all conversations.

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 document 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

Dealing with a UK legal matter? JustiScript can help