Santander 'we need some important information from you' letter

homeless9

'In order for us to meet UK legal and regulatory obligations, we need to make sure the information we hold on you is up-to-date. Therefore we need some additional information and documents from you'.


What is this letter really about? Surely Santander already have my passport information as it was likely given to them when the account was opened... which was opened by my mum on my behalf 20 odd years ago....

They want work information, income information, cryptocurrency information, photo of passport, photo of driver's license.

My tax returns are done each year.... so not sure why they need this information now, asking about the past 12 months.


As I 'invest' in crypto.....I can only assume this is 100% solely crypto related and they are checking I am not up to something dodgy in crypto land.... or am I totally wrong and it's just a normal, at random letter that anyone can get through the post? or is it usually targeted at certain people?

[Deleted User]

Most banks are having to bring their customer knowledge up to date, for KYC and responsible lending. Your tax returns don't give them the data they need to be sure of your identity.

Crypto will be part of it but certainly not '100%'.  

Daliah

Part of the KYC obligations banks have to fulfill to meet their licence conditions. If you don't like it, move to a different bank. Changes are, though, that you will run out of banks to move to rather quickly

HobgoblinBT

I recently retired from a competitor bank and took part in a similar exercise.  The banks need this information in order to comply with anti money laundering regulations, fatca and other regulations.  

When/if reviewing transactions, data held about customers helps the bank decide whether a transaction is business as usual or if it warrants further investigation. If this happens the first sign may be that your account is frozen. (Many posts on this topic in this forum).  

If  you wish to retain the account I suggest that you supply the information requested in the near future.  If you fail to respond within their timescale then there will likely be a follow up letter and no response to that will result in a letter giving 60 days notice of closure of your account.  

It sounds harsh, but the penalties for a bank not knowing their customers and demonstrating so by holding up to date data could result in loss of reputation and fines running into millions.  

Hope this helps.

robatwork

I have an account with Barclays which I opened years ago probably for some account switch bonus. It's now a sacrificial account rarely used. They have asked for this KYC info in the past several times. Last time a year or two ago. Mainly through an experiment - not any privacy reasons - I didn't reply. They haven't closed my account. 

Of course this means nothing in regard to your Santander account

homeless9

HobgoblinBT said:

I recently retired from a competitor bank and took part in a similar exercise.  The banks need this information in order to comply with anti money laundering regulations, fatca and other regulations.  

When/if reviewing transactions, data held about customers helps the bank decide whether a transaction is business as usual or if it warrants further investigation. If this happens the first sign may be that your account is frozen. (Many posts on this topic in this forum).  

If  you wish to retain the account I suggest that you supply the information requested in the near future.  If you fail to respond within their timescale then there will likely be a follow up letter and no response to that will result in a letter giving 60 days notice of closure of your account.  

It sounds harsh, but the penalties for a bank not knowing their customers and demonstrating so by holding up to date data could result in loss of reputation and fines running into millions.  

Hope this helps.

ok, thanks.

I replied to the first letter giving them passport/driving licence / employment / and crypto income details...

I have now had a letter though saying they require a statement from my Coinbase account to show ingoings/outgoings.

Crypto for me is just buying and selling to make a profit, nothing nefarious.

Yes - I have had the 'we may restrict your account if you do not reply' text in the letters, which when you haven't done anything wrong is pretty annoying/worrying to read. I might move my savings to a different bank for the time being as I don't know exactly what they are looking for within my Coinbase statement.

anotheruser

robatwork said:

I have an account with Barclays which I opened years ago probably for some account switch bonus. It's now a sacrificial account rarely used. They have asked for this KYC info in the past several times. Last time a year or two ago. Mainly through an experiment - not any privacy reasons - I didn't reply. They haven't closed my account. 

Of course this means nothing in regard to your Santander account

And means nothing in regards to this thread either.

robatwork

anotheruser said:

robatwork said:

I have an account with Barclays which I opened years ago probably for some account switch bonus. It's now a sacrificial account rarely used. They have asked for this KYC info in the past several times. Last time a year or two ago. Mainly through an experiment - not any privacy reasons - I didn't reply. They haven't closed my account. 

Of course this means nothing in regard to your Santander account

And means nothing in regards to this thread either.

Blimey I love when things like this happen. About 2.5 minutes ago I was boggling at (and replying to) the passive aggression in your footer. And then reading this I see I was wrong and there's nothing passive in your contributions at all.

homeless9

robatwork said:

anotheruser said:

robatwork said:

I have an account with Barclays which I opened years ago probably for some account switch bonus. It's now a sacrificial account rarely used. They have asked for this KYC info in the past several times. Last time a year or two ago. Mainly through an experiment - not any privacy reasons - I didn't reply. They haven't closed my account. 

Of course this means nothing in regard to your Santander account

And means nothing in regards to this thread either.

Blimey I love when things like this happen. About 2.5 minutes ago I was boggling at (and replying to) the passive aggression in your footer. And then reading this I see I was wrong and there's nothing passive in your contributions at all.

I always find this forum is full of condescending people. Here to look down on the people that need advice. It's a forum where you would expect adults to help out other adults in a polite and friendly way. I have found out it is actually worse than most other less serious forums for this type of behaviour.

I was actually thinking... the replies I got were wonderful, helpful and thinking for once nobody commented anything condescending or argumentative.... until this happened. It's not a surprise.

Adults helping other adults out with finances.... yet we are flooded with people who want to criticise or laugh at the less knowledgeable individuals needing some advice. Very odd.

HobgoblinBT

homeless9 said

ok, thanks.

I replied to the first letter giving them passport/driving licence / employment / and crypto income details...

I have now had a letter though saying they require a statement from my Coinbase account to show ingoings/outgoings.

Crypto for me is just buying and selling to make a profit, nothing nefarious.

Yes - I have had the 'we may restrict your account if you do not reply' text in the letters, which when you haven't done anything wrong is pretty annoying/worrying to read. I might move my savings to a different bank for the time being as I don't know exactly what they are looking for within my Coinbase statement.

Sounds to me like you are following the bank’s requests.  

If it were me with my AML hat on few years back, I would want to see the Crypto statements to back up what you told the bank, ie that moneys deposited and withdrawn were exclusively to or from your other accounts and not from 3rd parties to rule out “layering”.  

Shakin_Steve

robatwork said:

anotheruser said:

robatwork said:

I have an account with Barclays which I opened years ago probably for some account switch bonus. It's now a sacrificial account rarely used. They have asked for this KYC info in the past several times. Last time a year or two ago. Mainly through an experiment - not any privacy reasons - I didn't reply. They haven't closed my account. 

Of course this means nothing in regard to your Santander account

And means nothing in regards to this thread either.

Blimey I love when things like this happen. About 2.5 minutes ago I was boggling at (and replying to) the passive aggression in your footer. And then reading this I see I was wrong and there's nothing passive in your contributions at all.

It's nothing personal, Rob, they're offhand and unpleasant by nature. 🙂