any real secure banks? 23 September 2022 at 11:47AM in Budgeting & bank accounts 13 replies 712 views

bobbob22

hi all. Odd question. When 3rd parties (govt, hrmc, similar agencies) want to investigate your account. Is there any bank or service that is truly private? An account that block third party access and respect privacy? Are overseas or off shore banks exempt from investigations? thanks in advance

StrictGold5208

No, all banks are required to follow the regulation to become a bank. 

Ballard

I think that even Swiss banks are now more open with the authorities nowadays. You may find that some offshore authorities do not probe banks as much as perhaps they should. Moving money to and from such banks may raise questions with the authorities in your home country (presumably UK). 

eskbanker

Any financial institution within the UK will fall under the jurisdiction of both the FCA and the wider UK legislature, which grants wide-ranging powers to various authorities for AML purposes, etc.  Even as a UK resident, if there's something you're trying to hide, then investigations can and do reach beyond the UK borders, depending on exactly what's suspected....

DullGreyGuy

bobbob22 said:

hi all. Odd question. When 3rd parties (govt, hrmc, similar agencies) want to investigate your account. Is there any bank or service that is truly private? An account that block third party access and respect privacy? Are overseas or off shore banks exempt from investigations? thanks in advance

The level of privacy will be determined by the laws of the country the bank is operating in and also potentially what country its head office is based in.

In the UK banks have to comply with appropriate instructions from the authorities. Other countries may have lesser controls however that can also mean less stable banks and less protection if the bank goes bust. 

bobbob22

thanks ppl for taking time to reply

MEM62

bobbob22 said:

hi all. Odd question. When 3rd parties (govt, hrmc, similar agencies) want to investigate your account. Is there any bank or service that is truly private? An account that block third party access and respect privacy? Are overseas or off shore banks exempt from investigations? thanks in advance

I guess it all depends on what you are trying to hide and from whom.  

Ebe_Scrooge

MEM62 said:

bobbob22 said:

hi all. Odd question. When 3rd parties (govt, hrmc, similar agencies) want to investigate your account. Is there any bank or service that is truly private? An account that block third party access and respect privacy? Are overseas or off shore banks exempt from investigations? thanks in advance

I guess it all depends on what you are trying to hide and from whom.  

This was my thought.  OP, assuming you're a UK resident, you really don't want to be messing around with the likes of HMRC for instance.  It may take them a while to uncover and investigate fraud - but they're a tenacious bunch, and when they do finally catch up with you, the ramifications can be pretty serious.

Edi81

Is it just me that is curious why the OP wants this?

Neil49

Edi81 said:

Is it just me that is curious why the OP wants this?

No, HMRC are interested as well! 

wmb194

These days the trick would be to have an account that they don't know about to check but there's now a lot of data sharing between countries and transferring money between accounts will create trails.