What is the source of the company's assets?

Source of wealth, not source of the last transaction

The question about the source of wealth concerns the origin of the company's equity as a whole — not a single specific payment. The client (usually a bank or another institution with client due diligence obligations) wants to know where the money comes from with which the company was built or financed: profit from business activities, shareholder contribution, a loan, a sale of another company, an inheritance in a family business. That is a broader and different story than the source of funds in a single transaction, which some portals also ask about.

A good answer consists of a brief, factual description plus an underlying document: annual accounts, a shareholders' agreement, a loan agreement or a notarial deed for a business transfer. If you do not have that document readily available, the most honest answer is that the question is still being investigated — do not enter a source of wealth that you cannot substantiate with a document. This question is often linked to the question who are the ultimate beneficial owners of the company, because the source of wealth at the UBOs themselves is questioned as much as at the company.

Where this follows from: the client due diligence under the Wwft

This question comes from the client due diligence that institutions must perform under the Dutch Act on the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism (Wwft). Part of that investigation is establishing the source of wealth and, in higher-risk cases, enhanced due diligence on it. Institutions interpret this differently per client — one asks about "source of wealth", another about "source of wealth" — but the underlying obligation is the same article from the Wwft. If in doubt about what a specific portal means exactly, the annual accounts are often the simplest starting point; so also check whether the annual accounts of the company have been filed, because that document supports this answer immediately.