Politically Exposed Person

A politically exposed person is someone entrusted with a prominent public function, and in most frameworks the definition also reaches their immediate family and known close associates. It is a classification made by a firm during onboarding and monitoring, not an accusation, and it does not require the person to have done anything at all. What the classification changes is the level of checking rather than the answer. An account identified this way normally needs approval from senior management before it opens, evidence of where the funds came from rather than only who the client is, and closer ongoing review afterwards — measures that exist because a public role creates an opportunity, not because holding one implies use of it. Two practical points follow: the status is often self-declared at onboarding and verified separately, so an omission is a false statement in the client agreement's terms rather than a blank field, and it can begin during a relationship, since an appointment or a family member's appointment brings an existing account inside the definition.