KYC Santander

born_again

boingy said:

It all seems very badly targeted to me. Long standing customers are much less likely to be up to anything dodgy. There are exceptions, of course, but banks would be much better off focussing on newer account holders and unusual transactions.

If my bank asked me for all that stuff I'd move bank.

As long standing customers. There held data will be out of date. So these are the very people that need to be checked.
It has nothing to do with being "Dodgy" at all.

Think about it. You banked for 10 years with the same bank. Is you income the same? Have you maybe retired? Moved, amazing how many people never tell their bank...

RG2015

TheBanker said:

RG2015 said:

I have just looked at Santander’s Customer identification requirements for UK residents.

All they ask for is 1 item from each of two lists (see link below), along with yearly income and outgoings.

The OP is being asked for much more than this. I cannot see why they are being asked for so much more than a new customer.


https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/AD_documents/customer_identification_requirements_for_uk_customers_misc_1869_feb_24_ipg.pdf

These documents are to prove that the account holder is who they claim to be - i.e. the account has not been opened using a stolen or fictitious identity.

The OP said they'd been asked for: proof of income, house ownership, UK tax returns, proof of pension payments, copy of rental agreement 

This implies to me that the bank has concerns about transactions going through the account. The reference to both house ownership and a rental agreement implies the OP may own a property which they rent out. The requet for a tax return implies there may be a concern about tax evasion (which banks are legally required to act upon). I wonder if the OP is willing to tell us whether they are making regular cash or cheque deposits, or if the rent is arriving in the account from a third party?

Ultimatley we don't know what's triggered Santander to ask for this information, but they don't ask every customer to provide this so it must be something related to the activity on the account. It won't be a random request generated because one of their staff didn't have enough work to do! 

I must admit that I was influenced by the tone of the original post. it gives the impression that they have absolutely no idea what may have triggered this.

Your response here should be of great help to them. It may well be that despite all the suggestions here that they still have no idea why Santander have asked for this information.

It may very well be that they have had transactions with a third party of whom the bank may have suspicions.

This is mere speculation on my part, and owing to the nature of the enquiry, the bank cannot reveal their reasons.

The OP asked if this was normal for banks, the answer therefore, is yes, in certain circumstances.

johnthebaker

Hi all 

just to update you and thank you for all your views 

I am 65 years old my Wife is 66 we don’t have any loans or anything else with the bank just our pension being paid into our account and payment from our rental property 

these have been active for a number of years so nothing unusual in the account 

so no I am not sure why they have asked for so much information but certainly is not the way I expect to be treated as a loyal customer 

RG2015

johnthebaker said:

Hi all 

just to update you and thank you for all your views 

I am 65 years old my Wife is 66 we don’t have any loans or anything else with the bank just our pension being paid into our account and payment from our rental property 

these have been active for a number of years so nothing unusual in the account 

so no I am not sure why they have asked for so much information but certainly is not the way I expect to be treated as a loyal customer 

Sadly, loyalty does not come into it. Banks have an obligation to investigate anything that triggers their red flag alerts. I guess that their computers have sophisticated algorithms that look at facts rather than good character.

For example, if your tenant was under suspicion then regular payments to you could potentially implicate you by association.

Futuristic

All the big banks getting fined for allowing fraud and light AML checks, I had this on my account and it was easy to do. Online form where you can upload / answer all the qs quite quickly. 

TheBanker

johnthebaker said:

Hi all 

just to update you and thank you for all your views 

I am 65 years old my Wife is 66 we don’t have any loans or anything else with the bank just our pension being paid into our account and payment from our rental property 

these have been active for a number of years so nothing unusual in the account 

so no I am not sure why they have asked for so much information but certainly is not the way I expect to be treated as a loyal customer 

Hi,

This is nothing personal. Something on your account has triggered Santander's attention and they are legally required to complete further checks to confirm everything is in order. 'Unusual' doesn't just mean unusual in the context of your account, it also means unusual in the context of how a typical customer uses their account. As another poster suggested, it could be something to do with the payer of the rent, or it could be something else. It seems intrusive but they do need to satisfy themselves that monies passing through their accounts are from legitimate sources.

You might have seen that at the end of 2022 Santander had to pay a fine of over £100m for problems with 'Know Your Customer' checks on their Business Banking accounts. Given this, it is natural that they have increased the level of due dillegence checks across all their customers.

Unfortunatly, the regulator will not accept 'but they are loyal customers' as a reason for not investigating concerns - they expect banks to monitor activity, and to investigate when something flags. 

I've worked in banking all my life (although not for Santander), and trust me banks don't like asking these questions any more than you like answering them. It's expensive in terms of staff, systems and admin, it annoys customers and causes complaints and account closures. But the alternative i.e. fines and potentially restrictions on the business they are allowed to transact would be much worse. 

Even as a bank employee, I have had to go through these checks. Clearly the bank knows I'm an honest person as I've been through background checks, I'm subject to various forms of ongoing screening, and my role means I have access to a lot of sensitive information. If there were concenrs about my integrity, my building access card and system log-ins would suddenly stop working! Yet I've had to provide documentation to justify a large credit to my account - the same account my monthly salary was paid to. I found it annoying but it was easy enough to supply the required information. 

Shakin_Steve

born_again said:

boingy said:

It all seems very badly targeted to me. Long standing customers are much less likely to be up to anything dodgy. There are exceptions, of course, but banks would be much better off focussing on newer account holders and unusual transactions.

If my bank asked me for all that stuff I'd move bank.

As long standing customers. There held data will be out of date. So these are the very people that need to be checked.
It has nothing to do with being "Dodgy" at all.

Think about it. You banked for 10 years with the same bank. Is you income the same? Have you maybe retired? Moved, amazing how many people never tell their bank...

We get an in-app message periodically asking (telling) us to check that our personal information is up to date. It can be done in the app.

badger09

johnthebaker said:

Good morning 

Over the past couple of weeks both myself and my wife have received telephone calls and emails from Santander requesting information with regards to KYC 

We are a retired couple who receive private pension and house rental income 

Been with the bank over 40 years 

They have asked for proof of income, house ownership, UK tax returns, proof of pension payments, copy of rental agreement 
As well as NI number copy of passport and date of birth and what other bank accounts held and credit card statements 

Is this normal  I am a uk citizen 

First correspondence so hope you can help 

Best regards

If you have only received these requests by telephone & email, how do you know they are from Santander? I would expect any genuine requests to be made in writing. 

BeachNut

Personally I would transfer all funds out of santander accounts until this is resolved and why you still can. Santander KYC team have a habit of blocking accounts without notice which freeze your funds and they have no timeline to remove that block, even after you have provided all the info they ask for. They seem to just sit on their hands. "Santander - we don't care". BTW you can also request for free all info Santander hold about you and ask them to remove it (see their T&Cs).

GeoffTF

BeachNut said:

Personally I would transfer all funds out of santander accounts until this is resolved and why you still can. Santander KYC team have a habit of blocking accounts without notice which freeze your funds and they have no timeline to remove that block, even after you have provided all the info they ask for. They seem to just sit on their hands. "Santander - we don't care". BTW you can also request for free all info Santander hold about you and ask them to remove it (see their T&Cs).

It has never happened to me. If it keeps happening to you, expect that you will have the same trouble with another bank.