Banks not interested in knowing origin of funds?

Sumarokov

Hello. I want to ensure my account with a UK high-street bank does not get frozen. I am planning to transfer a sum from a gold investment to my current account and I asked the bank about showing origins of funds, informing them about this incoming transaction, etc.

I was told: “You do not need to notify us of a transaction coming into your current account, as soon as we receive this, it will be made available to you immediately.”

So how come all the many stories of bank accounts being frozen (especially, as I suspect, on the basis of algorithms), all very much on a basis of shut down now and let the client explain later? Would it not be better if you could check everything first with the bank?

eskbanker

It's obviously not in the banks' interests for people to know too much about how their AML/anti-fraud measures work, so it's always a case of freezing (selectively) and releasing reactively rather than any proactive intervention being possible.

Thrugelmir

Selling a legimate investment isn't a reason to freeze an account. 

eskbanker

Thrugelmir said:

Selling a legimate investment isn't a reason to freeze an account. 

That depends on how it appears on arrival!  A transfer from an identifiable and reputable institution may not be considered suspicious, but some of the many other routes might, and legitimacy may not be obvious initially, even if it turns out to be so after investigation....

Thrugelmir

eskbanker said:

Thrugelmir said:

Selling a legimate investment isn't a reason to freeze an account. 

That depends on how it appears on arrival!  A transfer from an identifiable and reputable institution may not be considered suspicious, but some of the many other routes might, and legitimacy may not be obvious initially, even if it turns out to be so after investigation....

Only reason people make transactions convuluted is to disguise the real source. 

eskbanker

Thrugelmir said:

eskbanker said:

Thrugelmir said:

Selling a legimate investment isn't a reason to freeze an account. 

That depends on how it appears on arrival!  A transfer from an identifiable and reputable institution may not be considered suspicious, but some of the many other routes might, and legitimacy may not be obvious initially, even if it turns out to be so after investigation....

Only reason people make transactions convuluted is to disguise the real source. 

That may be true but doesn't seem particularly relevant!  OP simply refers to "transfer a sum from a gold investment to my current account" and specifically mentions a UK high street account, so if, for example, those proceeds happened to be a huge sum arriving from some remote country via Western Union, then that will inevitably be seen as a higher risk transaction for the bank than the type I referred to....

AskAsk

they only ask about the money if you pay cash into your account over the counter but if it is paid in online they have their own internal processing for checking and alerting. 

they won't freeze your account just because a large sum has been paid in.  their investigations and reporting to the appropriate authorities will be done without the customers' knowledge if they believe there is something to investigate.

phillw

If a bank suspects a transaction then they will file a suspicious activity report with the national crime agency, they aren't supposed to alert you to that in any way.

Frozen accounts tend to be if you receive money from someone who gets a CIFAS marker for fraud (or if you're involved in fraud).

Malkytheheed

Genuinely this might sound a bit out there, but in a similar boat to you, I was getting so annoyed with the bank constantly wanting to know where i got money from or why I want money out of my own bloody account and such. I just mainly deal in Crypto wallets now where possible when moving money around / paying people etc. Moving money from one Crypto wallet to another is super easy, low cost and no annoying questions asked / frozen accounts. I've found it very handy on many an occasion.

As an example, I recently bought a car off a friend, I knew that if I had paid him via my bank account there would have been a total faff of security and nosepoking into my affairs. So I just sent him the amount to his crypto wallet from mine. Totally secure and took all of 5 seconds to do. He can then convert it to whatever he wants for free. 

Basically I avoid regular banks where possible now when dealing with anything over £1000 in value because the nannying of my account is just a total pain. I'm not a big crypto gambler or anything. But as a finnancial service it's brilliant. 

AskAsk

Malkytheheed said:

Genuinely this might sound a bit out there, but in a similar boat to you, I was getting so annoyed with the bank constantly wanting to know where i got money from or why I want money out of my own bloody account and such. I just mainly deal in Crypto wallets now where possible when moving money around / paying people etc. Moving money from one Crypto wallet to another is super easy, low cost and no annoying questions asked / frozen accounts. I've found it very handy on many an occasion.

As an example, I recently bought a car off a friend, I knew that if I had paid him via my bank account there would have been a total faff of security and nosepoking into my affairs. So I just sent him the amount to his crypto wallet from mine. Totally secure and took all of 5 seconds to do. He can then convert it to whatever he wants for free. 

Basically I avoid regular banks where possible now when dealing with anything over £1000 in value because the nannying of my account is just a total pain. I'm not a big crypto gambler or anything. But as a finnancial service it's brilliant. 

it depends on your regular activities.  if you have lots of large transactions going through your accounts all the time then the bank won't bother you.  they only get alerted if they see unusual activities from your normal activities.

Malkytheheed

AskAsk said:

Malkytheheed said:

Genuinely this might sound a bit out there, but in a similar boat to you, I was getting so annoyed with the bank constantly wanting to know where i got money from or why I want money out of my own bloody account and such. I just mainly deal in Crypto wallets now where possible when moving money around / paying people etc. Moving money from one Crypto wallet to another is super easy, low cost and no annoying questions asked / frozen accounts. I've found it very handy on many an occasion.

As an example, I recently bought a car off a friend, I knew that if I had paid him via my bank account there would have been a total faff of security and nosepoking into my affairs. So I just sent him the amount to his crypto wallet from mine. Totally secure and took all of 5 seconds to do. He can then convert it to whatever he wants for free. 

Basically I avoid regular banks where possible now when dealing with anything over £1000 in value because the nannying of my account is just a total pain. I'm not a big crypto gambler or anything. But as a finnancial service it's brilliant. 

it depends on your regular activities.  if you have lots of large transactions going through your accounts all the time then the bank won't bother you.  they only get alerted if they see unusual activities from your normal activities.

I just find it much simpler sending and receiving to crypto wallets than high street banks when dealing with people or companies I trust.