The Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act requires us as a bank to be able to provide documentation to the authorities showing that we know who our customers are and how they use our products and services. This is to help prevent fraudulent use of the financial system. 

Among other things, knowing our customers enables us to take action if a customer behaves in an unusual way or if we can see that unusual transactions are made via the customer’s account. We are under obligation to notify the authorities if we suspect that a transaction may be illegal, for example if there are any signs of money laundering or activities related to the financing of terrorism. 

We understand that some customers may feel inconvenienced when we ask for proof of identity and/or other information. But just as the security checks at an airport ensure that all travellers can enjoy a safe flight, it is both necessary and in the best interests of us all that we meet the legal requirements for knowing our customers.  

Yes, like all other banks, we must be able to provide documentation to the authorities showing that we know who our customers are and understand how they use our products and services. 

Our obligation to establish and maintain our knowledge of our customers is set out in section 11 of the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act. You can find section 11 of the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act below with the relevant parts of the rules underlined.

The rules do not state specifically which documents we as a bank must require our customers to submit to us. Section 11(1)(ii) of the Danish money Laundering Act states that the bank “[…] must verify the customer's identity information on the basis of documents, data or information obtained from a reliable and independent source”. 

All banks must therefore themselves assess what documentation they deem sufficient to enable them to comply with the rules of Danish legislation. 

Danske Bank generally requests that all customers provide us with a copy of a valid photo ID and health insurance card because we believe that this is the most secure way of documenting that the customer is the person that the customer claims to be.

These instructions are for you if you are aged 18 or older and live in Denmark.

If you live abroad, please go to ‘What types of proof of identity do you need to upload? For customers living abroad’. 

Please note that

• your proof of identity must be valid (i.e. not expired)
• a selfie, portrait photo or the like is not a valid form photo of ID

Which proof of identity do you need to upload copies of?

• Your passport or other photo ID, a driver’s licence for example 
• PLUS your health insurance card of other proof of identity without a photo

Please see below for a list of types of valid proof of identity.

If you do not have a valid passport or other type of photo ID

If you do not have a passport, driver’s licence or other valid photo ID, you must upload copies of three (3) types of proof of identity without a photo.

Please see below for a list of types of valid proof of identity.

Valid photo ID 

• Passport, diplomatic passport, alien’s passport and official (service) passport
• Driver’s licence issued by an EU, EEA or EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) country or the Faroe Islands and Greenland
• National identity card issued by an approved country
• Type C, D or F residence card (front and back in colour)
• ID card with photo (issued by a Danish citizen service centre (Borgerservice))

Valid proof of identity without a photo

• Health insurance card
• Name certificate
• Birth certificate
• Certificate of personal data
• Most recent annual tax statement from the Danish tax authorities

These instructions are for you if you are aged 18 or older and live abroad.
If you live in Denmark, please go to ‘What types of proof of identity do you need to upload? For customers living in Denmark’. 

Please note that

• your proof of identity must be valid (i.e. not expired)
• in addition to proof of identity, you must upload proof of address (see below what types of documentation you should upload copies of).
• a selfie, portrait photo or the like is not a valid form photo of ID

Which proof of identity do you need to upload copies of?

• Your passport or other photo ID, a driver’s licence for example 
• PLUS your health insurance card of other proof of identity without a photo
• PLUS documentation of your address

Please see below for a list of types of valid proof of identity and documentation of address.

If you do not have a valid passport or other type of photo ID
If you do not have a passport, driver’s licence or other valid photo ID, you must upload copies of three (3) types of proof of identity without a photo – along with documentation of your address.

Please see below for a list of types of valid proof of identity and documentation of address.

Valid photo ID 

• Passport, diplomatic passport, alien’s passport and official (service) passport
• Driver’s licence issued by an EU, EEA or EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) country or the Faroe Islands and Greenland
• National identity card issued by an approved country
• Type C, D or F residence card (front and back in colour)
• ID card with photo (issued by a Danish citizen service centre (Borgerservice))

Valid proof of identity without a photo

• Health insurance card
• Name certificate
• Birth certificate
• Certificate of personal data
• Most recent annual tax statement from the Danish tax authorities

Documentation of your address abroad

The documentation may not date back more than six months and must be written in Latin script. It is important that your full name and address be stated in the document. 

You can upload one of the following types of document, for example:

• An account statement from your local bank
• A document from a public authority in your country of residence
• A valid rental contract
• A home utilities bill (electricity, water, heating, gas, broadband, cable TV or insurance)
• A national ID card issued in your country of residence

Yes. You can securely upload your files via the websites stated in our letters. 

We do not pass on any information to any third parties or to any of Danske Bank’s partners, and we take all relevant measures in accordance with applicable legislation to protect the personal data of our customers. Our websites provide secure connections that encrypt files and save them on Danske Bank’s secure systems in the same way as with all other confidential information. 

You can read more on how we process personal data in Danske Bank A/S privacy notice for retail customers and private individuals (Denmark).

If you have received a letter explaining that we do not have copies of your proof of identity and you fail to upload or send these to us, we will send you a reminder after a certain period.

In the reminder, we will inform you of the deadline (two months from when we send the letter), and we will explain what will happen if we do not receive copies of your proof of identity before the deadline.

If we have your mobile phone number and/or your email address, you will probably also receive a text message and/or an email with a reminder.
If we do not hear from you, we will again send you a letter informing you of the deadline and explaining what will happen if we do not receive copies of your proof of identity.

If, despite this, we still do not receive copies of your proof of identity, we will after a certain period send you a further letter notifying you that we will block your accounts and cards etc. In this letter you can also read more about what specific consequences this will have for you and find instructions explaining what you must do to unblock you accounts and cards etc. (make sure you send copies of your proof of identity).

• Take a photo of your proof of identity, for example using your mobile phone camera or a scanner. Selfies do not apply as photo ID.
• Check that all information is included in the photo and is clearly legible
• Save the file on a device (a computer or tablet for example), from which you can open this webpage
• Fill in the personal data fields below
• Click/tap Upload and follow the instructions
• You can upload up to 10 files at a time
• Click/tap Send when you have uploaded all your files

Choose between the following file formats: PDF; jpeg/.jpg/.png or .gif.

The maximum size for each file is 4 MB.

How to take a picture of your passport or driver’s licence

How to take a picture of your passport or driver´s licence

Like all other banks, Danske Bank must comply with the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act (Hvidvaskloven), and we must also comply with our own internal anti-money laundering rules.

To enable us to achieve this, we need basic knowledge about our customers: Who are they? Where do they live? How and why are they using Danske Bank? This is why we are contacting you and asking you to provide us with the information we need, including proof of your address, details of your citizenship, proof of your identity and similar information.

We fully understand that this may be an inconvenience and can seem strange if you have been a Danske Bank customer for many years. However, just as security checks at the airport are necessary and make your journey safer, it is also necessary for us to document the identity of our customers to enable us to assist the authorities in preventing financial crime.

We use the information for a number of purposes, including as documentation and to identify so-called Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and individuals with close relations to these people.

There are also many practical reasons for asking for such information. For example, asking you for proof of your address also helps ensure that we have the correct address when we need to send you a new payment card or similar.

At Danske Bank, fighting financial crime in society is one of our highest priorities, and knowledge of our customers is an essential element of our work in this area. By knowing who each individual customer is, we make it difficult for those few individuals who want to commit crime. 

It is our assessment that proof of address, knowledge of citizenship and similar information is absolutely fundamental in enabling Danske Bank to work to prevent financial crime. 

So if there are customers who do not send us the necessary information, we have no option other than to block their accounts, cards, and other facilities until we receive the information we need. 

Blocking accounts and payment cards is always a last resort, and we will make repeated attempts to contact customers from whom we need information before the situation reaches this point.