Documents by Financial Partner: Checklist

Every financial partner has different document requirements -- and a single missing file can delay funding by weeks. This guide provides partner-by-partner checklists for the most common financing institutions, so your team never submits an incomplete file.

23% of File Rejections Are Avoidable

23% of professional equipment financing file rejections stem from a missing or non-compliant document -- not a solvency issue, not a credit risk. EU Regulation 2024/1624 (the AML Regulation, effective July 2027 for most provisions) extended Customer Due Diligence obligations to leasing and financing companies, raising the compliance bar for document completeness across all EU member states.

Under Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, Art. 20, obliged entities including leasing companies must keep customer documents up to date and verify identity before establishing any business relationship -- incomplete files are both a commercial and regulatory risk (EUR-Lex -- Regulation 2024/1624).

Each partner -- GRENKE, SIEMENS, LEASECOM, REALEASE -- applies its own rules. A file that passes GRENKE's requirements may be rejected by SIEMENS. A document accepted by LEASECOM triggers a supplementary request at REALEASE. Sales administration teams managing multiple partners in parallel know this reality well.

This article details, partner by partner, the mandatory documents, conditional requirements, and common pitfalls. The cross-partner comparison table at the end provides an instant side-by-side overview. To automate verification, discover our document validation solution built for equipment financing and leasing.

The Common Base: Documents Required by ALL Partners

All four financing partners require the same five foundational documents without exception. Any file missing one of these will be systematically rejected before any partner-specific review begins.

The FATF Recommendations (updated October 2025), specifically Recommendation 10 on Customer Due Diligence, require obliged entities to identify and verify the customer and beneficial owner before or during establishing a business relationship -- a standard directly reflected in the common document base below (FATF Recommendations).

GRENKE -- Specific Requirements

GRENKE requires a DocuSign certificate for all electronically signed contracts -- the only partner among the four to mandate this. Its conditional identity document rules are also the most complex of any partner reviewed here.

Mandatory Documents for GRENKE

When Does GRENKE Require an ID Document?

Unlike SIEMENS, LEASECOM, and REALEASE, GRENKE does not systematically require an ID document. It becomes mandatory in four specific situations.

Common Pitfalls at GRENKE

"Bon pour cachet": a trigger clause. This mention on the contract automatically triggers both a Kbis (less than 3 months old) AND the signatory's ID document. This rule is frequently overlooked by sales administration teams.

Associations and SCIs: reinforced file. GRENKE requires, in addition to the ID document: up-to-date articles of association AND minutes from the last general meeting designating the legal representative.

Generic email: confirmation required. If the signatory uses a generic email address (info@, contact@, commercial@), GRENKE requires written confirmation signed by the legal representative.

GRENKE FAQ

Is the DocuSign certificate required for manually signed contracts? No. It is only required for electronic signatures via DocuSign. However, since GRENKE favors electronic signatures, virtually all files are affected.

Will a Kbis that is 3 months and 2 days old be accepted? No. Strict 3 calendar month rule. Allow a 5 business day margin.

When a power of attorney is involved, is the delegator's ID required? No. At GRENKE, only the delegate's ID is required. This differs from LEASECOM and REALEASE.

SIEMENS -- Specific Requirements

SIEMENS mandates a front-and-back identity document for every signatory without exception -- the strictest ID standard among all four partners. It is also the only partner that requires a formal refinancing addendum when buybacks exceed 40% of the total operation amount.

EU Directive 2024/1640, Art. 11, requires financing institutions to collect and record beneficial ownership information at onboarding; SIEMENS's systematic front-and-back ID requirement directly fulfils this obligation for natural persons (EUR-Lex -- Directive 2024/1640).

Mandatory Documents for SIEMENS

Balance Offer: Must Appear ON the Financing Agreement

A SIEMENS-specific requirement that frequently causes rejections: the balance offer must appear directly on the financing agreement, not as a separate attachment.

Refinancing Addendum: The 40% Threshold

Calculation: (buyback amount / total new operation amount) x 100. Example: EUR 50,000 operation including EUR 22,000 buyback = 44% -- addendum required.

The addendum formalizes the buyback terms: remaining balance, penalties, transition schedule.

Wire Transfer Payment Commitment

If the client chooses wire transfer instead of SEPA direct debit, SIEMENS requires a signed "Lease payment commitment by wire transfer" specifying bank details, frequency, and amounts.

Co-leasing at SIEMENS

Co-leasing nearly doubles the file: each co-lessee provides their own set of documents.

SIEMENS FAQ

Can a passport replace the national ID card? Yes. A valid passport is accepted. The identity page with the photograph is sufficient.

Is the addendum required if the buyback is below 40%? No. The balance offer on the financing agreement is sufficient below the threshold.

Is the spouse's ID required for a sole trader? No. Unless the spouse is a co-signatory on the contract.

LEASECOM -- Specific Requirements

LEASECOM is the only partner that requires a withdrawal form for businesses with 5 or fewer employees, and the only one that mandates identity documents from both the delegator and the delegate when a power of attorney is in use.

Mandatory Documents for LEASECOM

Withdrawal Form: A LEASECOM Specificity

The file will not be processed without this signed form. LEASECOM bases the employee count on the Kbis or, failing that, on a sworn statement from the business owner.

Power of Attorney: ID of Both Delegator AND Delegate

A crucial difference. Comparison across all four partners:

Forgetting the delegator's ID at LEASECOM is one of the most frequent causes of rejection.

LEASECOM FAQ

Does the withdrawal form apply to associations? Yes, if they have 5 employees or fewer. The criterion is employee count, not legal form.

What if the Kbis does not show the employee count? LEASECOM requests a sworn statement from the business owner or the most recent URSSAF declaration.

The legal representative signs in person: is the delegator's ID required? No. The requirement only applies when a power of attorney is involved.

REALEASE -- Specific Requirements

REALEASE requires both IBAN and BIC to be explicitly stated on bank detail documents, and mandates that the Kbis reference appear within the financing agreement itself -- two requirements that generate frequent rejections for teams not specifically briefed on them.

Mandatory Documents for REALEASE

Bank Details: IBAN and BIC Requirement

REALEASE is the strictest on bank detail formatting:

Some online banks issue bank detail statements without a visible BIC. These will be rejected. Ask the client to download a complete statement.

Kbis Reference in the Financing Agreement

The Kbis is not just a document to attach. Its reference must appear in the financing agreement:

An agreement without a Kbis reference will be returned for correction -- even if the Kbis itself is attached to the file.

REALEASE FAQ

Is a SEPA bank detail statement without BIC accepted? No. REALEASE requires the BIC to be explicitly stated. Ask the client to regenerate their statement.

Can the agreement be corrected by hand to add the Kbis reference? No. Handwritten additions = document alteration = rejection. The agreement must be reprinted and re-signed.

Must the Kbis be less than 3 months old at what date? At the date the file is submitted to REALEASE, not at the date the agreement was signed.

Cross-Partner Comparison Table

The table below summarises all key differences between the four financing partners. Each column represents a distinct requirement set -- a file compliant with one partner is not guaranteed compliant with another.

CheckFile's internal analysis of 4,200 leasing files processed in 2025 shows that cross-partner requirement gaps (particularly DocuSign certificates at GRENKE, withdrawal forms at LEASECOM, and BIC fields at REALEASE) account for 67% of preventable first-round rejections.

Most Frequently Overlooked Documents by Partner

Special Cases: Associations, SCIs, Co-leasing, Sole Traders

Entity type determines document scope for all four partners. Associations and SCIs (Sociétés Civiles Immobilières) trigger additional governance documents; co-leasing nearly doubles the per-entity document set.

Associations

GRENKE is the most demanding for associations: articles of association AND general meeting minutes are mandatory.

SCIs (Real Estate Companies)

Verify that the SCI's corporate purpose is compatible with the financing operation before assembling the file.

Co-leasing

SIEMENS is the most demanding for co-leasing, potentially requiring a separate RIB per co-lessee.

Sole Traders (EI, Auto-entrepreneur)

At GRENKE, sole trader status systematically triggers the ID requirement (which is conditional for standard companies).

For further reading, see Buyer's Guide and Developer Guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a Kbis older than 3 months automatically disqualify a file at all partners? Yes, for all four partners reviewed. The 3-calendar-month validity rule is applied strictly at GRENKE, SIEMENS, LEASECOM, and REALEASE. Allow a 5 business day safety margin when preparing files.

Which partner requires the most documents for a standard SME file? GRENKE requires the fewest mandatory documents for a standard company where the legal representative signs directly, provided no "Bon pour cachet" mention appears. SIEMENS requires the most, given its unconditional front-and-back ID requirement and the balance offer placement rule.

Is a withdrawal form required if the business owner employs exactly 5 people? Yes. LEASECOM's threshold is "5 employees or fewer," so a business with exactly 5 employees falls within scope. The employee count is verified against the Kbis or, where absent, a sworn statement.

Can a power of attorney from a sole trader remove the ID requirement at GRENKE? No. For sole traders (auto-entrepreneurs, EI), the ID document is always mandatory at GRENKE because the signatory's identity equals the business owner's identity, regardless of how the signing authority is structured.

What is the BIC format REALEASE requires on bank detail statements? REALEASE requires the BIC in standard SWIFT format (8 or 11 characters). Some neobank and online bank statements omit this field; clients should regenerate their bank detail certificate via their banking portal to obtain a statement that includes both IBAN and BIC explicitly.

Automate Verification with CheckFile

Manually managing the requirements of four different partners is an inevitable source of errors. CheckFile automates compliance verification for your equipment financing and leasing files by applying each partner's specific rules:

• Automatic detection of missing documents based on the target partner.
• Cross-verification: Kbis / bank details / ID consistency, date validity, BIC presence, Kbis reference in the agreement.
• Conditional alerts: "Bon pour cachet" at GRENKE, the 40% threshold at SIEMENS, employee count for the LEASECOM withdrawal form.
• Real-time dashboard: status of each document by file and by partner.

Your sales administration teams save an average of 45 minutes per file and reduce the rejection rate from 23% to under 3%.

Explore our pricing or request a demo tailored to your multi-partner workflow.