The FxPro identity check, done once

What the check is for

The identity check proves you are the person named on the account and that the address you gave is real, and it gates everything else. Until it clears, the account exists but cannot be funded and traded in the normal way, so it belongs before the deposit, not after it. FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK), CySEC and FSCA — not by the CMA of Kenya — and the check is the broker's own obligation under those licences rather than a Kenyan requirement.

That regulator point is worth holding onto, because it explains why the documents requested are the ones they are. You are opening an account with the FxPro entity that serves this country, and that entity answers to its home regulators, not to the CMA. The document list follows from that, not from local practice.

Documents that pass first time

A document passes first time when all four edges are visible, the text is sharp, the details match the account form exactly, and it has not expired. Photograph the full page on a flat, well-lit surface rather than cropping to the photo panel; a cropped image is the single most common reason a perfectly valid ID is sent back. The name must read the same way it did on the form, including middle names and the order of surnames.

For proof of address, the document must show your name and your address as you entered them, and it must be recent enough to satisfy the broker's own recency rule — check the current requirement in the client area rather than assuming, because that rule is the broker's to set and can change. A utility bill, a bank statement or an official letter all serve the same purpose; what matters is that the address on it matches the address on the account, character for character.

Where a second document is requested, supply exactly what is asked rather than a substitute you consider equivalent. The reviewer is matching against a checklist, and a document that is not on it fails regardless of how official it looks.

What sends one back, and why to finish early

Blur, glare, a corner cut off, an expired date, an address that differs from the one on the form, a name spelled differently, or a screenshot of a document rather than a photograph of it — these are the returns. Each one costs you a full cycle of submit, wait and resubmit, which is why the first attempt deserves ten unhurried minutes. Fix the mismatch in the account details first if the fault is yours, because resubmitting the same mismatched pair fails the same way.

Finish verification before the first deposit because a deposit into an unverified account creates a problem with two halves: money in, and no way to trade it or take it back out until the account clears. Doing it in the right order means the first deposit lands in an account that is ready.

Once you are verified, the funding page is the next step, and our margin calculator is the thing to open before you send money — it tells you what a given gold position will require at the applicable cap, so the deposit you choose is sized to the trade you intend rather than to a round number.

The legal duty behind the ID check: Kenya's anti-money laundering law and the FCA entity serving you

Identity verification is a legal obligation, not a broker preference. FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK), CySEC and FSCA — not by the CMA of Kenya. The entity serving Kenya therefore operates under anti-money-laundering rules that require it to know who each client is before money moves, and to keep a record of the documents used. Kenya's own Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act imposes parallel duties on institutions handling funds, so a Kenyan bank or payment route you use may ask its own questions too. The check exists because opening a trading account is a financial relationship, and the law treats it that way.

The rule that matters in practice is simple: no verified identity, no funded account. A broker cannot accept your money, place your XAU/USD order or hold a position for you until the name on your documents has been checked and matched. This is why verification sits between registration and your first deposit rather than after it. The obligation falls on the regulated entity, so it cannot waive the step or let you skip it in exchange for a smaller deposit. Everything you send is held for that compliance record, which is also why the documents must be legible and current.

The check also protects you directly. A verified account is harder for someone else to open or operate in your name, and the record of your identity is what lets you recover access if your phone or email is compromised. Because the entity is supervised abroad rather than by the CMA, complaints about how your data was handled go through that entity's own complaints route and its home regulator, not a Kenyan licensing body. Treat the verification request as the first real transaction you complete with the broker: accurate, complete and unhurried.

The document errors that actually trigger rejections, from cropped corners to glare across the photo page

Most rejections come from image quality, not from anything wrong with your identity. A photograph of a national ID or passport that loses a corner, catches a reflection over the photo page, or is shot at an angle so the machine-readable strip cannot be read will be sent back even though the document itself is valid. Screenshots, scans printed and re-photographed, and images where the expiry date is cut off fail the same way. The fix costs nothing: lay the document flat, use even daylight, fill the frame with all four edges visible, and check the result on your phone before uploading.

The second common failure is a mismatch between what you typed and what the document says. Your name must appear exactly as printed, including middle names and the order they appear in, with no shortened first name and no added title. A date of birth entered in the wrong order, or a nationality selected from a dropdown that differs from the passport, will hold the file. If you have changed your name through marriage or deed poll, the document showing the new name is the one that must be uploaded, and the older one alone will not clear the check.

The third is a document that no longer proves what it claims. An expired ID, a proof of address dated outside the accepted window, or a utility bill in a landlord's name rather than your own all fail regardless of image quality. Blurred small print on the back of an ID, or a bill where the address is partly folded over, also sends the file back. Send the clearest version you have the first time and you avoid a second round trip; a rejected upload restarts the queue and delays the moment you can fund the account.

Where your money sits if you deposit before the identity check clears

A deposit made before approval does not give you a trading account, and it does not buy you a position in gold. The regulated entity cannot activate trading until your identity is verified, so any funds that arrive early sit unapplied against your pending file rather than being available as margin for a 0.10-lot XAU/USD position. You will not be able to place orders, and the money earns nothing while it waits. The practical consequence is that funding early gains you no time at all: the clock starts when the documents clear, not when the M-Pesa confirmation lands.

What happens to that money depends on the entity's own handling of unverified deposits, and that is the part you should confirm in writing before sending anything. Some files are held and applied on approval; others are returned to the sending route. Because the funds came through M-Pesa, a return travels back along a channel tied to the number that sent it, so a deposit made from someone else's phone number creates a second problem on top of the first. Keep the sending number in your own name and keep the confirmation message.

The safe sequence is to finish verification, wait for written approval, and only then fund the account. Once approved, margin is what your position actually consumes: at the applicable cap, a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50, and the rest of your balance is the buffer that absorbs adverse moves. Depositing ahead of approval does not enlarge that buffer, because no position can be opened against it. If you have already sent money, keep the M-Pesa reference and ask the support desk to confirm the status of the pending deposit in writing.

What the suitability questionnaire asks and which answers actually change your account

The suitability questionnaire is where the broker records what you understand about leverage, loss and the products on offer, and your answers determine whether the account is opened on standard terms, opened with conditions, or not opened at all. It is not a formality you click through. Questions typically cover your trading experience, how long you have traded leveraged products, your income and savings, and how much of your money you can afford to lose. Answers that contradict each other, such as claiming years of experience alongside no understanding of margin, are the ones that trigger a follow-up.

What changes is the risk framing applied to you, not the price of the instrument. If your stated experience and finances suggest leveraged gold is unsuitable, the entity may decline the account or restrict how it can be used, and it may require you to acknowledge the risk in writing before proceeding. It does not lower your costs or improve your fills. The maximum leverage available in Kenya is the cap that applies to the entity serving this country, and it is a cap rather than a setting to aim at; the questionnaire is one of the places where that distinction is tested.

Answer honestly and consistently, because the record follows you. If your circumstances change materially — a new source of income, a large change in savings, or a shift in how much you are risking per trade — the answers on file become stale, and a later review may ask you to update them. Inflating experience to seem qualified is the worst trade available: it removes the protections meant for your actual situation while changing nothing about how gold behaves when a position moves against you. A cautious, accurate answer set costs you nothing and keeps the account defensible.

Proof of address accepted from Kenyan clients and the age limit on each document

Acceptable proof of address is a document issued by a third party that shows your full name and your residential address as you entered it, dated recently enough to be current. In Kenya that usually means a utility bill, a bank or mobile-money statement, a rates or tax document, or an official letter from an institution that carries your address. The document must be the original issue, not a handwritten note, and the address on it must match the address on your account. A document showing a P.O. Box alone is generally not enough, because it does not establish where you live.

How recent it must be depends on the entity's own rule, and that rule is the number you should ask for rather than assume. The common pattern is a document issued within the last few months, and anything older is treated as no longer proving your current address. If your bill is quarterly, the most recent issue is the one to send. If you rent and the bill is in the landlord's name, use a bank statement or an official letter addressed to you at that address instead, since a document in another person's name will not verify your address.

Send the full page, not a crop. The issuer's name, the issue date, your name and the address all need to be visible in one image, and the address must read the same way it does on your account — same estate or street wording, same town. A mismatch between a bill that says one thing and a form that says another is a rejection even when both are genuine. If you have recently moved, verify with the new address and keep the old document out of the file; mixing the two creates a discrepancy that takes longer to resolve than a fresh upload.

When the name on your ID and the name on your M-Pesa or card payment do not match

A mismatch between the account name and the name on the payment route is treated as a compliance issue, not a clerical one. The whole point of the check is to link the money to a verified person, so a deposit arriving from an account or number registered to a different name cannot be assumed to be yours. That includes a spouse's M-Pesa line, a family member's card, or a business account used for personal trading. The broker will normally hold or return the funds and ask for an explanation before applying them, and repeated mismatches can suspend the account.

The cleanest resolution is to pay from a route registered in the exact name on your verified ID. If your M-Pesa line is registered in a shortened form of your name, or with a different order of names, that is usually resolvable by sending the document that shows the link, such as the ID plus the mobile-money registration details. If the payment genuinely came from someone else, expect the funds to be returned to the sender and the deposit to be requested again from your own route. Do not attempt to solve a mismatch by adding a second name to the account.

Third-party funding is the situation most likely to end the relationship rather than fix it, because accepting money from an unverified person is exactly what the rules exist to prevent. If someone else is genuinely funding your trading, that person needs their own verified account and their own deposit, and the money should not pass through yours. Keep the sending route, the ID and the account name aligned from the first deposit, and a mismatch never arises. If one has already occurred, contact support with both documents before sending anything further.