DILIGENCE REQUEST PROTOCOL

An initial request provides sufficient information to establish:

• the requesting institution or organisation;
• the individual making the request;
• their title, team and professional capacity;
• the role of the institution in the proposed relationship;
• the Purpose of the enquiry;
• the relevant borrower, obligor, asset, entity or transaction;
• the information or Evidence required;
• the legal, regulatory, credit or professional requirement concerned;
• the present stage of the relationship or transaction;
• and the appropriate contact and secure-information route.

Where relevant and available, the request also identifies:

• the institution’s jurisdiction and regulatory status;
• its company, regulatory, FRN or LEI reference;
• whether it acts as principal, lender, arranger, adviser, investor, agent or intermediary;
• the proposed facility or transaction type;
• indicative amount, currency and tenor;
• the intended Decision timetable;
• the persons expected to receive or rely upon the information;
• any existing confidentiality agreement;
• and the professional advisers involved.

An incomplete request is not rejected merely because every field is not yet available. WFO identifies any additional information reasonably required to establish legitimacy, scope and the appropriate disclosure route.

Begin a Professional Diligence Request →

Identity, incorporation and standing

Requests concerning the identity, incorporation, residence, institutional standing or public particulars of WFO, the Principal or another relevant counterparty are directed first to the applicable public profile.

The Office →

Principal & Leadership →

Ownership, Control and Authority

Requests concerning directors, beneficial ownership, Control, legal capacity, delegated Authority or signatory arrangements are directed to the relevant Governance material and, where necessary, controlled corporate Evidence.

Governance →

Investment Governance →

Identity, KYC and financial integrity

WFO provides public identity orientation and a controlled route for the more sensitive information required for institutional KYC, AML, sanctions, PEP, adverse-media and other financial-integrity review.

The initial request identifies the specific remaining KYC requirement rather than requesting an undifferentiated collection of personal documents.

Financial Integrity / AML →

Source of Wealth and Capital Provenance

Requests concerning the origin, creation, ownership and Evidential history of relevant Capital are directed to WFO’s Source of Wealth and Capital-Provenance architecture.

Source of Wealth & Capital Provenance →

Source of Funds

Source of Funds remains transaction-specific. The request identifies the relevant transaction, amount, account, transfer route and Purpose so that Evidence corresponds to the funds actually concerned.

Financial position and liquidity

Requests concerning financial position, liquidity, cash flow, liabilities, commitments or debt-service capacity identify the relevant person or entity, the period concerned and the Decision for which the information is required.

Source of Repayment

Requests concerning repayment identify:

• the relevant obligation;
• the primary Source of Repayment;
• the expected payment profile;
• the resources generating repayment cash;
• timing and currency;
• material assumptions and dependencies;
• any contingent refinancing or Realisation route;
• and the Evidence required to support the analysis.

Source of Repayment →

Security and Source of Recovery

Requests concerning security, collateral, title, priority, valuation, encumbrances, enforcement or recovery identify the proposed collateral perimeter and the particular rights or Risks requiring examination.

WFO distinguishes headline asset Value from collateral Value, net recovery proceeds and practical Recoverability.

Capital Defence →

Recoverability / R³ →

Source of Recovery →

Contracts, rights and dependencies

Requests concerning contracts, payment rights, ownership rights, intellectual property, counterparties or operational dependencies identify the specific agreement, right or dependency relevant to the proposed Decision.

Legal, regulatory and professional Evidence

Requests for legal opinions, regulatory information, tax material, valuations, accounts, professional confirmations or other specialist Evidence identify the proposition the document is expected to support.

A professional document is not treated as an undifferentiated assurance of every proposition associated with the subject.

Legal, Regulatory & Standards Framework →

Succession and Continuity

Requests concerning key-person dependency, Authority, Succession, institutional memory or operational Continuity are directed to the relevant public architecture. Sensitive dependencies and continuity mechanics remain controlled.

Succession & Continuity →

1. Requester identification

WFO establishes the identity, professional capacity and institutional affiliation of the requester.

A generic email address, unverifiable identity or unexplained intermediary position does not provide the same basis for disclosure as a request from an identified professional acting within a verifiable institution and mandate.

2. Legitimate Purpose

WFO establishes why the information is required and the Decision, relationship, transaction or professional obligation to which it relates.

Curiosity, speculative data accumulation or an undefined future interest does not establish the same requirement as a live and credible professional process.

3. Scope definition

WFO identifies the questions requiring determination before selecting the Evidence.

The scope distinguishes:

• public information;
• preliminary controlled information;
• personal KYC material;
• corporate or ownership Evidence;
• transaction-specific Evidence;
• professionally prepared or independently verified material;
• material requiring third-party consent;
• privileged or otherwise protected material;
• and information that is not appropriate to disclose at the present stage.

The existence of information does not itself establish that every requester requires access to it.

4. Confidentiality and information handling

Where non-public material is required, WFO establishes an appropriate confidentiality and information-handling basis.

Depending upon the nature and stage of the request, this includes:

• verification of intended recipients;
• confidentiality undertakings;
• restrictions upon use and onward distribution;
• secure transmission or controlled access;
• access logging or recipient identification;
• document marking or watermarking;
• time-limited access;
• restrictions upon copying or extraction;
• return, deletion or access-closure requirements;
• and protection of personal data, legal privilege and third-party rights.

Confidentiality & Information Handling →

5. Evidence provision

WFO provides Evidence according to the defined requirement and disclosure stage.

Material identifies, where relevant:

• its source;
• ownership or professional author;
• applicable entity or person;
• scope;
• date or Time-State;
• valuation or assessment basis;
• assumptions;
• limitations;
• verification status;
• and whether reliance is governed by a separate professional engagement or Definitive Documentation.

WFO distinguishes a document from the proposition it supports. Evidence is supplied because it is relevant to a defined question, not merely because it exists.

6. Questions and clarification

A professional counterparty can identify further questions, inconsistencies or missing Evidence through the controlled diligence route.

WFO records and coordinates material responses where the enquiry crosses financial, legal, tax, valuation, operational, Governance or other professional domains. Each specialist retains responsibility for their own Professional Map.

7. Completion and continuing relevance

Information remains subject to its Time-State. A document correct when issued does not acquire permanent validity merely because it remains in a diligence record.

Where a transaction or relationship continues, WFO identifies material updates according to the applicable Governance, contractual and professional requirements.

Material supplied through the Protocol falls into one or more of the following categories:

Public

Information available through the WFO website, public registers or other identified public sources.

Controlled

Non-public information provided to an identified recipient for a defined professional Purpose.

Transaction-specific

Information prepared, selected or provided in relation to a particular borrower, facility, investment, asset or transaction.

Professionally verified

Evidence prepared, reviewed or confirmed by an appropriately qualified third party within the scope and limitations of their professional work.

Definitive

Rights, obligations, representations, warranties, covenants, security and reliance provisions established through the Definitive Documentation governing the relationship.

The categories are not interchangeable. Public information provides context; controlled and professional Evidence supports diligence; Definitive Documentation establishes the binding position.

WFO does not publish passports, dates of birth, exact residential addresses, tax-identification information, bank statements or other sensitive personal records merely because an institution may later require them.

Where legitimately required, the controlled route supports access to relevant:

• proof of identity;
• proof of address;
• nationality and residence information;
• tax-residence and tax-identification information;
• corporate and beneficial-ownership records;
• Authority and signatory Evidence;
• PEP, sanctions and adverse-media information;
• relevant declarations or screening;
• Source of Wealth;
• Source of Funds;
• and transaction-specific supporting material.

Disclosure remains proportionate to the verified counterparty, legitimate Purpose and stage of engagement.

The initial enquiry establishes the request and the appropriate information route.

Unless WFO expressly establishes a secure channel for the Purpose, the requester does not submit through the general website form:

• passports or identity documents;
• bank statements or account credentials;
• tax records;
• medical or other special-category personal data;
• private contracts;
• legally privileged material;
• confidential valuation or security documents;
• data-room credentials;
• or sensitive information belonging to another person or institution.

Diligence is reciprocal.

WFO also establishes, according to the proposed relationship:

• the identity and Authority of the counterparty;
• its regulatory and professional standing;
• its role and economic interest;
• the source and capacity of any proposed funding;
• relevant principals and intermediaries;
• conflicts of interest;
• decision-making Authority;
• confidentiality and information-security capability;
• transaction execution capacity;
• and the enforceability of its proposed commitments.

A request for extensive disclosure does not remove the requesting counterparty’s obligation to establish its own credibility, Authority and capacity to perform.

WFO supports legitimate professional scrutiny but does not treat the Protocol as an unrestricted data-room entitlement.

Information is supplied according to the applicable Purpose, recipient, confidentiality basis and stage of engagement. WFO does not waive legal privilege, confidentiality, data-protection rights, contractual restrictions or third-party rights by acknowledging or responding to a request.

The public website and an initial diligence response do not constitute:

• an offer or solicitation;
• a commitment to enter a transaction;
• a representation or warranty of transaction creditworthiness;
• permission for unrestricted reliance or onward distribution;
• a substitute for independent professional verification;
• or a substitute for the Definitive Documentation governing the relationship.

Banking & Credit Diligence →

Source of Wealth & Capital Provenance →

Source of Repayment →

Source of Recovery →

Governance →

Financial Integrity / AML →

Confidentiality & Information Handling →

Public Resources & Evidence →

Legal, Regulatory & Standards Framework →

Contact / Professional Enquiry →

A professional requester begins by identifying who they are, the institution and capacity in which they act, what they need to establish, why the information is required and the relationship or transaction concerned.

WFO then directs the request to the shortest appropriate route: existing public material, a targeted professional response, controlled disclosure or transaction diligence.

Begin a Professional Diligence Request →

WFO treats effective diligence as the disciplined matching of the question, Evidence, source, Time-State and Decision Requirement—not as the indiscriminate accumulation of documents.