What Risk Areas Are Assessed in SoW Analysis?
Source of Wealth analysis is not about collecting more documents, it is about testing whether the client’s wealth story is reasonable and supportable.
In practice, SoW reviews rely on a few core risk checks:
- Profile vs. wealth – Does the client’s occupation and career realistically explain the level of wealth?
- Income vs. assets – Are known earnings sufficient to justify property holdings, investments, or large transactions?
- Ownership clarity – Are business interests transparent, or hidden behind layered entities, nominees, or offshore structures?
- Associations – Is the wealth derived from or linked to family businesses, inherited wealth, or spouse/close associate holdings?
- Jurisdiction exposure – Is wealth connected to high-risk or secrecy jurisdictions?
- Independent verification – Can the claims be corroborated through registries, filings, or reliable public sources?
- Adverse indicators – Any litigation, regulatory actions, or negative media linked to the wealth source?
The objective is not to prove misconduct, but to determine whether the wealth narrative is credible and defensible.
Where explanations rely on unverifiable claims, complex structures, or disproportionate asset growth, enhanced due diligence may be required.
Strong SoW analysis therefore moves beyond paperwork, it applies structured questioning and independent validation to support sound risk decisions.
Author: Charu Goyal