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I am applying for a financial company and had been selected but before they can send out a contract to me. They are asking for my Personal ID, passport, driving license and bank statement via the Recruiter.

which IMO is very personal. Should I send them as an email or is it my right not to send it because it is all of my information.

I have never been asked so many things prior to signing a contract.

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    What do you mean "Personal ID"?
    – joeqwerty
    Jan 8, 2020 at 13:57
  • I have never been asked so many things prior to signing a contract. You're never worked in India then. :)
    – Sourav Ghosh
    Jan 8, 2020 at 16:41
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    Is the recruiter a third-party recruiter? Has he been given an email address by the employer? Is the domain name of the email address legit? Did you get interviewed by the financial company? Was it a remote interview? Or an in-person interview at their office? I am just surprised they didn't ask for that information the day you interviewed with them.
    – Stephan Branczyk
    Jan 8, 2020 at 19:37
  • Suspcious to me... bank industry knows that stolen idenity is the number one way people take out false loans or credit. This is the very same way advesairies get PII to carry out these sort of things. Why would they encourage their employees to potentially cost their company money in credit reversals and identity theft?
    – Dan
    Jan 9, 2020 at 14:20

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It's somewhat normal to need this sort of documentation to perform background checks, credit checks, or other steps required for new employees in some industries.

Of course, you want to be sure you are talking to a legitimate employer, not a scammer pretending to be hiring new employees. This should be pretty obvious if you've performed interviews with a legitimate company, versus, say, having responded to an online add for a company name you've never heard of, and then meeting someone in a temporary office set up in a hotel room - or anything else sketchy.

To get to your actual question - you asked,

Should I send them as an email

Email may not be the best choice for sensitive documents, at least not email that isn't somehow secured. If the employer cannot offer a secured mechanism (i.e. a secured online portal, or a secure messaging or email system), then you may want to do some quick googling to come up with your own method. At the very least, a password-protected archive (zip) with the password supplied separately via phone call provides at least basic protection, in case anyone has access to your emails.

You also asked,

or is it my right not to send it

You certainly have the "right" to refuse sending it, but the employer also has the right to tell you they can't hire you as a result.

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Sounds like they are just doing a FCA check on you (specifically they need some of that stuff for credit) which is pretty common in the UK for financial jobs (regulation).

Most of the material is required for any standard UK job (financial or not) - I have been asked for my passport for proof of right to work in the UK for every job I've had.

Here is a good article on what to expect and why.

Here is a link to the FCA website.

Just to quickly address the issue of sending it over email as I didn't realise it was such an issue when I first answered:

  • Clearly ensure with the company you interviewed for that they want these documents sent via the recruiter. This in itself doesn't raise a red flag to me as I believe a lot of recruiters offer a sort of end to end service to companies
  • Ensure the files are password protected in a zip. Ask them if they have an SFTP you can upload the files to. I would assume they have something in place for you to securely pass on those files
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    There are also now requirements to ensure that employees have the right to work in the UK - which is why they want to see a passport. They obviously need bank details in order to pay you.
    – Robin Bennett
    Jan 8, 2020 at 15:27
  • @Robin I didn't want to give too much detail as it would be essentially repeating what is in the link I have provided, but yes you are correct
    – Gamora
    Jan 8, 2020 at 15:28
  • @Bee - generally, it's considered good form to quote what is in a link if it is relevant to the answer. This way, the answer remains valuable even if the link dies for some reason. Of course, you don't want to cut and paste the entire website, but anything that is relevant to explaining your answer should typically be included here as a quote. The link should really be for reference or for further information. I haven't taken the time to look at the links you provided so I don't know if this is truly relevant or not, but I wanted to point it out just in case.
    – dwizum
    Jan 8, 2020 at 15:51
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    @dwizum The first line of my answer essentially summarises the link, I didn't feel the need to add additional detail as an FCA check is repetitively easy to google. I mentioned credit as it's outside of what would generally required for most standard background checks (passport is always required for major companies).
    – Gamora
    Jan 8, 2020 at 15:55
  • Robin: They need your passport on your first day at work.
    – gnasher729
    Jan 8, 2020 at 21:09
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Other answers address whether or not you should send them, however if you do decide to send these, and send via email, then I would strongly consider sending via password protected PDF, or better yet put them onto an online storage account such as DropBox or OneDrive, as this way you can ensure the information is only directly accessibly by the correct party.

I would also ascertain as to whether you should send the documentation direct to the employer, rather than the recruiter.

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  • When you inquire as to where to send it, you should inquire directly of the prospective employer's HR department, through their PUBLIC contact information. If everything is on the up-and-up, they will not have a problem with this. If something shady is going on, your question will alert them.
    – John R. Strohm
    Jan 9, 2020 at 1:44
  • "password protected PDF" Please, no. Then you can as well send it in clear-text. My 4-year-old can crack that.
    – Fildor
    Jan 9, 2020 at 10:16
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This is quite dubious. A financial company doesn’t need your driving license. You usually bring your passport and banking details on your first day at work. I don’t know what you mean be “personal id”.

This should most definitely not be sent to any third-party recruiter. And I’d be curious how much evidence you have that this company is legit, because that information gives them all they need for identity theft.

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Email is absolutely not a good medium to send sensitive information unencrypted.

However, putting everything in an encrypted zip archive is sufficiently secure. Then use another medium, like sms to send the password.

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I'd also be rather suspicious if all I ever did was a phone interview and/or electronic communication with the company. I don't know about the UK but every place I've been hired for ask that I physically bring the documents with me on my first day. If they need to scan it they do it with whatever secure apps they have. Never been asked to provide these sensitive documents and any bank would know how sensitive information can be given they are in an industry where people regularly take false loans out using stolen credentials that people get from the dark webs that they got from people who did the very same thing you're doing now.

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  • Although this is a valid point (someone needs to see the physical passport and sign the photocopy normally) this will just be initial checks. You may have never had to provide such extensive documentation if you haven't worked in a job that required any FCA checks
    – Gamora
    Jan 9, 2020 at 14:22

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