As part of the account verification process, you will be required to submit a photo of a Proof of Residency or Proof of Address (POA) document. This photo can be taken using PowerTrade's in-app camera or can be an upload of a previously-taken photo.
Commonly accepted documents
We accept documents that are indicative of an ongoing relationship between the sender of the correspondence and the customer who purportedly resides at the address on the document. (For example, recurring monthly invoices.)
Here are some examples of commonly accepted proof of residency documents.
- Utility bill
- Internet bill
- Bank statement
- Credit card statement
- Insurance statement
- Official letter from local municipality, state government, or national government agency
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, and in some cases, extenuating circumstances might require that we request you to provide alternative forms of proof of residency documents.
Document Requirements
If you are in doubt about whether your document is acceptable, please check that it meets these requirements:
- Document is a legal and traceable document.
- Document is printed in machine-readable Latin characters.
- Document contains the official name and logo of the company or authority that issued it.
- Document must be date-stamped to no earlier than 3 months before the processing date.
- Document includes the following key information:
- Your full name, identical or reasonably similar to the full name in your submitted POI document.
- Your current residential address.*
*Note: PO Box addresses will not be accepted as they are not necessarily indicative of residency.
ID or Residency Cards with Addresses
Some countries' ID cards contain residential address information. If your submitted POI document contains your current residential address, you may reuse this in lieu of a regular POA document. Simply photograph or upload a photo of the POI again when the app prompts you to submit a POA document photo.
Photo Requirements
If you opt to photograph or upload a photo of the POA document, the photo you submit needs to be legible. For speedy account verification, please ensure that the submitted photo meets the following requirements:
- All information on the document must be legible.
- Photo must be reasonably in focus and not be too blurry to read.
- Photo must be full-color and unfiltered. No monochrome or filtered photos will be accepted.
- Photo must show all four corners of the top page of the document. The document should not appear to be cropped or folded to obscure information.
- Photo must depict a physical copy of the POA document. It cannot be a photograph of a screen that is displaying a soft copy.
Uploading a Soft Copy
Rather than using a photo of a physical copy of your POA document, you may instead choose to upload a soft copy of the POA document (typically in PDF format).
Commonly Rejected Documents
The following documents cannot be accepted for various reasons.
- Mobile phone bill
- Fintech account statement (e.g. PayPal, Transferwise)
- Challenger bank account statement (e.g. Revolut, n26)
- Rental or lease agreement
Common rejection reasons
Before rejecting your account verification submission, our Support team will contact you via email to communicate the reasons for rejection and to advise you on how to improve your next account verification submission. Common reasons for rejection include the following:
- Document does not have a date stamp.
- Document is date stamped but is older than 3 months.
- Document is not a supported type or was not issued by a recognized authority.
- Document does not contain the official logo of the company or authority that purportedly issued it.
- Photo submitted is a photo of a screen and not a photo of a physical copy.
- Our system detected signs of digital tampering with the document.
- Photo of the document is unclear or blurry.