Certinty

Certinty™ is an easy-to-use electronic form that lets you create and store the “self-certifications” that may be required when you next open a bank or building society account. Technical terms are explained, and the stored certifications can be re-used for each new financial institution you deal with.

Part of the self-cert process asks for your Taxpayer Identification Number (or TIN for short) which may be needed before you can use the new account. Using Certinty will avoid potential delays or repeat visits to the bank and make that part of the account-opening process much faster. A completed self-certification can be printed at home or at your bank using Airprint, or (by agreement) emailed to your bank.

Certinty caters for the two main types of self-certification, Individual and Business (needed when the account is held by a company, fund, trust or other entity). Note that Certinty is not suitable for large businesses, public companies (or their subsidiaries), or government entities.

The scope of information captured by Certinty complies with the requirements of both the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It is based on the specification provided by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the co-ordinating organisation for CRS.

Certinty is convenient for financial institutions because it contains a barcode of all the captured information that can automatically be scanned and updated into their electronic systems.