Due Diligence - Rootz Limited (under MGA) - ridiculous !!!

[FreeSpins]

Dear all,

Due Diligence is getting worse... especially in Rootz Limited.

• Passports/ Identification Documents for all Directors Certified (Certification date not older than 6 months)
  
• Passports/ Identification Documents for all UBOs Certified (Certification date not older than 6 months)
  
• Proof of address for all UBOs and directors of the Company Certified (Date on the Document must not be older than 6 months)
  
• Certificate of Incorporation
  
• Proof of Registration from Trade Register
  
• The most recent version of the Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association
  
• A certificate of Good Standing/Incumbency (not older than three (3) months)
  
• Ownership Structure Chart containing all UBOs and explanation if necessary (signed by a director or a Company Secretary)
  
• Certificate of Shares and/or Shareholders Register
  
• Gaming/Financial/Affiliates Licences (as applicable) in the markets you operate in
• Audited financial statements, annual returns and/or tax returns for the previous or current year and/or bank statements that are not older than six (6) months old
• Please ensure that the list of Directors is included in one of the above documents
  
• Power of Attorney or Authorisation enabling the signee to sign on behalf of the Company (if the document is not signed by a Director, Company Secretary or UBO
  
• Any other relevant information

Most of the documents from the list - provided (ORIGINALS), but wait... no... they require from us certified copies.

Please note such documents may be certified by embassy officials, legal or accountancy professionals, entities/persons undertaking a relevant financial business or equivalent activities, or by any other person who is empowered to certify documents within your jurisdiction.

For verification purposes, we require such documents to be certified.

What's more....

Would you be able to supply us with a Certificate of Good Standing/Incumbency?


Please also provide an Ownership Structure Chart (signed by a Director or Company Secretary).



Finally, we require the signature in Part 12. Acknowledgement either as a wet-signed scan of the page or an e-signature via a reliable application, such as DocuSign.

Doesn't that sound ridiculous???

[FreeSpins]

I ask them: who will cover the possible costs, because certifying documents is expensive ... and you have to wait a long time. LOL, they want me to pay several thousand euros to certify the original documents that I have already provided to them???

BTW, I've never experienced such ass digging... not even when opening a company account in the UK's high street bank.

[freespinsnodeposit]

That's a long list! Way over the top for an MGA brand.

Pretty sure you have to provide less in some US states where affiliate licensing is mandatory.

They'll only be working with the larger affiliates if this is the approach they take.

[MMM]

That is ridiculous. See if maybe you can ask your accountant or something to stamp it and that would be enough.

[FreeSpins]

Got this:

The reasoning under these guidelines is that the certifier would be providing added comfort on the authenticity of the document and confirming that the personal details appearing on the certified document correspond to the customer.

As such, the certifier requires to be a third party individual within one of the aforementioned capacities.

With such a restrictive approach to partners, I am sure that medium and small partners will simply give up cooperation.

LOL: they want me to go to embassy and ask for docs certification to get some hundred euros. LOLLLL

[MMM]

can be a nice poll and then to show them.

[baldidiot]

What country are you in? There's sometimes cheaper ways to do it - for example, in the UK you can get documents certified at the post office for pretty cheap (around a tenner I think).

[FreeSpins]

What country are you in? There's sometimes cheaper ways to do it - for example, in the UK you can get documents certified at the post office for pretty cheap (around a tenner I think).

embassy officials, legal or accountancy professionals, entities/persons undertaking a relevant financial business

I asked for the price it looks like 100 eur/page from legal dpt.

A certificate of Good Standing/Incumbency (not older than three (3) months)

I dont have it

Audited financial statements, annual returns and/or tax returns for the previous or current year and/or bank statements that are not older than six (6) months old

Audited?? My company do not qualify for obligatory audit.



BTW, maybe we should start asking for the same documents from them?, What do you think???

[mickyfu]

Quite simply trying to ditch affiliates who won't / can't comply. Nothing new these days, everyone is doing it.

[wonderpunter]

Way over the top.. its a nice ploy to get rid of an affiliate.. you would need less to get your own license and banking..

[allfreechips]

Fact is we should be asking them for all this.. and i bet they have a reason not to give it all.

[baldidiot]

Fact is we should be asking them for all this.. and i bet they have a reason not to give it all.

If you have a big enough account base I'm sure they'll be happy to close your account in order to satisfy your compliance requirements.

[FreeSpins]

Fact is we should be asking them for all this.. and i bet they have a reason not to give it all.

KYC/AML/DD/GDPR/ISO, etc.

soon, we will stop doing core job and switch to KYC's each other

[Pokerface]

Absolutely ridiculous. Some programs are really over the top when it comes to KYC/due diligence. Clearly, it is the "sales prevention departments" (legal/finance) that are driving these companies, and no common sense.

[mickyfu]

KYC/AML/DD/GDPR/ISO, etc.

soon, we will stop doing core job and switch to KYC's each other

There is no soon about it. People have been bored of it for years. They are not playing anymore.

The UKGC are slaughtering genuine sites whilst making the black market more attractive by the days.

Their morals do not lie with the consumer. They simply want their part of the pie.

[betatesports]

Well for the almost 10 years of my experience in this industry, I've never seen anything like this. When you take to the account that any of these (papers) can take days, even weeks in some countries to get them signed paper.

[LowFlyingBird]

Interesting approach taken here.

Proactive in not wanting affiliate traffic.

Maybe not ready to receive new affiliate traffic sources.
Not every affiliate program is staffed or set up the same.

[joshfarr]

Dear FreeSpins,

Rootz Ltd is obliged to collect certain information and documents about our suppliers, including affiliates.

Our request was made in view of you generating German players in the past.

However, in this case we believe that there has been a misunderstanding and we are therefore committed towards resolving the matter as quickly as possible. We will be personally contacting you in this regard.

Josh Farrugia
Head of Affiliates
Rootz Ltd.

[Former Member 14]

Rootz Ltd is obliged to collect certain information and documents about our suppliers, including affiliates.

Given that Rootz Ltd is supplying a service/goods et al to affiliates, will you be providing the same documentation as being requested, given Countries (where affiliates are based) now demand at min KYC...? My guess you'd refuse!

Hence, we'll use laws (even fabricated) to steal affiliate commissions and players... Nice one

[joshfarr]

Similar to the Due Diligence that Rootz conducts on third parties, we are also responsible for complying with external Due Diligence requests; that is, supplying third party entities with the necessary information required by them to fulfil their obligations.

Josh Farrugia
Head of Affiliates
Rootz Ltd.