Santander heavy handed Know your client

AnnRainford

Santander have blocked my business account as they say they have been trying to get hold of me to confirm some details. no letter no text and no email to warn me that the account would be blocked.
i spoke to the remediation team who had placed the block as they wanted more information about me to comply with know your client rules. i have had a personal account with them for over 30 years so they should know ne.
the block is for my business account and i spent over 2 hours answering their questions. they wanted to know my FULL financial history (not just where the funds that go into the business come from) they wanted a copy of my tax return, my rental agreements, a payslip from my previous employer from 2019, details of all my savings, my shares any inheritance etc etc
at first i refused to supply any information not relevant to the business ( my savings etc is not even with Santander) but they refused to unblock my account until i provided the information
i reluctantly gave in to this blackmail and sent the missing info off within 2 hours, received an acknowledgement email, rang and asked for the block to be removed and they still refused saying it will take 48 hours but they don't work weekends
they also said that if they still needed more info the account would remain blocked
this could put me out of business, its month end i need to pay suppliers and wages.
customer complaints cant help as its up to the remediation department and the remediation department wont let me speak to a manager to obtain more clarification
i cant find anything on the internet as to the depth of the Santander know your client questions that support their intrusion, i cant find the law that allows them to ask these questions or the law that requires me to provide all my financial information, for a small business account (this is not my main business) 
Has anyone else had the same problem?
Any advise as my account is still blocked?
Please be aware if you bank with Santander as they will be doing this with every account eventually
  

grumbler

This looks more like an AML/fraud investigation disguised as a KYC check.

born_again

We had to go through this for our personal accounts despite many of us working for said bank for many years.

Banks face big fines for failing to do this..

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/know-your-customer-guidance/know-your-customer-guidance-accessible-version

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/COB/5/2.html?date=2006-03-01

charlielove

How did this go ?

eskbanker

charlielove said:

How did this go ?

If that's aimed at OP, she hasn't been back to the forum since the day of starting this thread over a year ago!

artyboy

eskbanker said:

charlielove said:

How did this go ?

If that's aimed at OP, she hasn't been back to the forum since the day of starting this thread over a year ago!

First time that poster has posted in over 11 years and it's to resurrect an old thread. Nothing odd at all there 🤣