Compliance
How NorthPole is allowed to move money.
Who holds your funds, why verification is required, and what we can put in writing for a due-diligence review.
The model
NorthPole is a technology company, not a bank.
This is the most important thing on the page, so it goes first. NorthPole builds the platform. The regulated financial activities — holding customer funds, issuing cards, performing settlement — are carried out by licensed partners who hold the authorisations those activities require.
Practically, that means your balance is not a number NorthPole keeps in its own ledger and hopes to honour. It sits with a licensed institution, and the obligations that institution is under — verification, limits, monitoring, reporting — are the reason NorthPole asks you for the things it asks you for.
It also means we are precise about what we can and cannot claim. A licence held by a partner is theirs, not ours, and a certification we have not completed is not something we will imply on a marketing page.
Technology
NorthPole
Builds the platform, the API, the apps and the merchant experience. Handles verification flows, monitoring and support.
Regulated activity
Licensed partners
Hold customer funds, issue cards and perform the regulated financial services. They carry the licences those activities require.
Oversight
Regulators
Supervise the licensed partners and set the obligations — verification standards, limits, monitoring and reporting — that flow through to you.
Obligations
What we are required to do.
Each of these is implemented in the product. They are obligations that flow from the licensed partners and their regulators, which is why none of them can be skipped on request.
Know Your Customer (KYC)
Individuals are verified against BVN or NIN records before they can hold a balance. The name and date of birth given at sign-up must match that record.
Know Your Business (KYB)
Business accounts require verification of the business and of the account owner, including the owner's own NIN and BVN, before the business can transact.
Tiered limits
Accounts operate in tiers. Higher transaction limits require a higher level of completed verification rather than being granted on request.
Minimum age
Accounts are restricted to users aged 18 and over, enforced at sign-up against the date of birth provided and confirmed at verification.
AML monitoring
Transactions are monitored for anti-money-laundering signals. Flagged activity is reviewed, and accounts can be restricted while a review is open.
Fraud screening
Payments are screened for fraud indicators, with flagged transactions surfaced for review rather than silently accepted or declined.
Record keeping
Transaction records and verification evidence are retained for the period financial regulations require, including after an account is closed.
Audit trail
Account actions and money movement are logged, so any transaction can be traced to the authorisation that produced it.
Verification
What we ask, and when.
Asked once, at the point it is needed — not repeatedly, and not after you have already tried to transact.
- 1
At sign-up
Name, email, phone and password, then date of birth and address. The last two are collected here so verification never has to interrupt you later.
- 2
Identity check
Your details are checked against your BVN or NIN record. The match is exact, which is why the name and date of birth must be the official ones.
- 3
Tier assignment
A completed check assigns your account tier, which sets your transaction limits. Higher tiers require more verification, not a request.
- 4
Business verification
For business accounts, the business itself is verified in addition to the owner — including the owner's own NIN and BVN.
- 5
Ongoing monitoring
Transactions continue to be monitored for AML and fraud signals for as long as the account is open.
Due diligence
Reviewing NorthPole as a vendor?
We would rather answer your questionnaire accurately than have you rely on a page like this one. Here is what to ask for.
- Compliance contact
- compliance@northpoletradelink.net
- Available on request
- Current attestation status, partner and licence details, security overview
- Under NDA
- Audit reports and penetration-test summaries where we hold them
- Questionnaires
- Send yours with a timeline and we will complete it
- Commercial terms
- sales@northpoletradelink.net
This page describes NorthPole's compliance model and is not legal advice or a regulatory disclosure. Where a specific licence, certification or attestation matters to your decision, ask us for it in writing rather than inferring it from here.
Your funds are held by licensed partners, not by NorthPole.
NorthPole is a technology company. Regulated financial services are provided by partners who hold the necessary licences. For the current partner and licence details, write to compliance@northpoletradelink.net.
Compliance questions.
Is NorthPole licensed by the CBN?
NorthPole is a technology company and does not itself hold a deposit-taking licence. Regulated activities — holding funds, issuing cards, processing settlement — are performed by licensed partners under their own authorisations. If you need the specific partner and licence details for a due-diligence review, write to compliance and we will provide them.
Do you hold SOC 2, PCI DSS or ISO 27001?
Certification status is not published here, because a badge without the report behind it is not useful to you. For a vendor review or procurement process, write to compliance and we will tell you exactly what we currently hold, what is in progress, and share what we can under NDA.
Why do you need my BVN or NIN?
Because the licensed partners holding customer funds are obliged to verify account holders, and BVN and NIN are the identity records that verification runs against in Nigeria. It is a regulatory requirement rather than a NorthPole preference, which is why it cannot be waived.
My verification failed. What now?
The most common cause is a mismatch between the name or date of birth you entered and the one on your BVN or NIN record — the check is exact. Correct the detail and try again. If it still fails, write to support with the account email and we will look at what the check returned.
What happens to my data?
Verification data is used to satisfy identity obligations and is retained for the period regulations require. Our Privacy Policy sets out what is collected, why, how long it is kept, and what rights you have over it.
Can you support my company's due-diligence questionnaire?
Yes. Send it to compliance along with your timeline. We would rather answer a long questionnaire accurately than have you rely on a marketing page.
Why might my account be restricted?
Usually incomplete verification, or an open review triggered by AML or fraud monitoring. You will be told that a restriction is in place. We cannot always share the detail of an open review, but we will tell you what is needed from you to resolve it where we can.
Still have a question? Talk to us.
Start with verification handled properly.
Create an account, complete verification once, and transact without being interrupted by it later.