Art transactions need buyer/seller CDD, provenance discipline and a clean record of value and payment.

Why it matters

Galleries, dealers, auction houses and intermediaries often work with agents, storage, cross-border payments and scarce provenance evidence.

Where the scope gets real

Art-market files usually turn on the transaction value, the parties behind the buyer or seller, the payment route and any suspicion. Cash of EUR 3,000 or more is a live trigger and a EUR 10,000 art transaction should be treated as a high-value goods AML file.

Where teams lose time

The difficult part is connecting the object story to the compliance story: who owns it, who is selling, who is buying, why the price makes sense, how it will be paid and what evidence supports provenance.

Typical files and mandate types

• Gallery sales above the high-value threshold
• Auction or private-sale mandates with agents or companies on either side
• Works moving through storage, freeport or cross-border delivery arrangements

What Sceau does

• Provenance and ownership evidence beside AML checks
• Cash and value thresholds shown at sale-file level
• Buyer/seller gate before completion

What usually goes wrong

• Incomplete provenance treated as a commercial note rather than a compliance issue
• Payments from a third party unrelated to the buyer
• Rushed closings where CDD is finished after the work has moved

How Sceau works in practice

• Record the object, value, buyer, seller, agents and payment route
• Clear CDD, screening, source of funds, provenance and ownership before sale completion
• Keep cash review and suspicion decisions sealed in the evidence ledger

What changes operationally

• Art files become inspectable sale records rather than scattered correspondence
• Staff see exactly why a sale is blocked or ready
• The office can prove both object due diligence and party due diligence

What stays under your control

Sceau creates a sale gate that keeps item description, provenance, ownership history, buyer/seller CDD, sanctions screening, source-of-funds evidence and cash review in one file.