Nationwide asking to confirm identity 6 years later!?

TheBanker

Ergates said:

boingy said:

Ergates said:

nottsphil said:

Nasqueron said:

blomft said:

I've had this happen recently too,  I can understand the reason for ID checks etc periodically, But they were asking for many personal Details, where do I work, when I started work there, how much do I earn etc etc.
 I can't see any reason why they should want or need this information unless they want to sell me things. 
 If it is a new legal requirement, then why aren't other banks asking for this detailed information?

Imagine you had 3k a month coming in but you had no official job for example - they could get in trouble for not checking if you were laundering cash - yes the KYC checks are a legal requirement. If your data is up to date with others then you won't e.g. if you applied and provided ID like a driving licence 

But it's not cash, is it. 
I have about £4000 of funds going into regular savings with organisations who have no idea about my income.
The origin of the money is never queried and nor would I expect it to be, because they are cleared funds from other organizations. 

So..... what's your point?

His point is that it's our money, it's already in the banking system and we should be able to do whatever we like with it. Because it's our money. There are too many bank apologists on this forum. A vast majority of banking customers are normal legitimate customers. We should not have to jump through hoops to use our hard-earned money.

People who understand the regulatory landscapes are not "bank appologists", they're just people who aren't stupid.

Exactly who is it, do you think, that has put in place the requirements for confirming where money has come from and where it's going to?   Do you *honestly* think that all the banks just got together one day and agreed "Hey, lets all put in place a vast amount of hugely expensive processes just to !!!!!! our customers.  Come on, it'll be funny" ?

Or do you, perhaps, think that maybe it was the government who gets to decide things like that?

I am not a bank apologist but I have spent most of my working life in banking so I've seen this from both sides.

I can confidently say that banks hate having to comply with these requirements just as much as customers do. They have to spend a small fortune on systems and staff to capture the information and monitor accounts, they get lots of complaints from customers who don't like it, and ultimatley they have to close profitable accounts when customers refuse to comply.

But they hate getting fined hundreds of millions of pounds even more, with the ultimate threat of loss of their license to operate. 

In 2024 Metro Bank was fined £17m and Starling was fined £29m for failures in their AML controls. In 2023 Al Rayan Bank was fined £4m. In 2022 it was Santander fined £107m, Gatehouse Bank £1.5m, Ghana International Bank £6m. In 2021 HSBC paid £64m. Natwest were convicted by a criminal court and fined £264m - in a sense they got off lightly as their Directors and Officers could have been sent to jail.

If you were running a bank, what would you do?

Personally, I find it a pain in the backside having to sometimes answer these questions and submit documentation. On the other hand, I recognise that these laws and regulations are there to prevent the laundering of criminal funds. If they are making it more difficult for County Lines drug gangs to exploit vulnerable people, more difficult for people trafficers, more difficult to fund acts of terrorism, then I can live with the extra questions.

Ballard

@TheBanker is right. I’ve worked for banks since I left school but that doesn’t make me an apologist, I’m the opposite on many occasions. On this subject, though, the banks are doing what the lawmakers and regulators demand. They’d far rather not have to employ departments and install software to check all customers and transactions.

Unfortunately it’s the customers who have to provide the required information if they want to continue the relationship.

Having said all that, it’s surprising how much property in the UK is owned by dodgy oligarchs laundering their cash.