Santander - and maybe other banks requiring renewed verification for mobile banking

booneruk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134221#Comment_82134221

I've never had to jump through any of these ID confirmation account checks outside initial sign up. These take minutes of my time which is a big time saver over traipsing down to a local branch. I have 5+ current accounts and not one has insisted on new checks. Maybe because they're all fairly new accounts (oldest one is from 2018).

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134221#Comment_82134221

I have had my Santa account since it was Abbey National Building Society. I do not remember whether I had to produce ID when I opened it. As an existing member, perhaps a pass book sufficed. I have never been asked to prove my ID since. Banking is very competitive. They pay me.

friolento

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134273#Comment_82134273

I have also been a Santander customer for over 15 years, and have no desire to leave them as they have been, and still are, providing me with good value. I have two dozen longstanding DDs and 38 SOs, accounting for nearly 90% of money going out of my Santander current accounts. I have regular monthly income going into Santander, and irregular deposits from maturing savings accounts, mainly Regular Savers with other providers. I have a large agreed Santander overdraft but never go into debt, and I have a Santander credit card with a large limit and which gets paid off every month. Alongside that I have a few savings accounts with them which pay good interest or cashback. I have lots of non-Santander accounts, too, none of which are in debt. My credit reference files have always been clean. 6 or so weeks ago, I was picked for a KYC action. Nobody should assume it cannot happen to them. Nobody should be afraid of getting selected, either.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679032/santander-id-and-income-check

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134091#Comment_82134091

There's always room for constructive debate about exactly how each institution has chosen to interpret them, but ultimately the KYC/AML regime is driven by legislation, as regulated thereafter by the FCA, rather than being something banks invest heavily in for kicks and to irritate their customers. Some of the pressure for tighter preventive controls comes from prominent personal finance journalists, typically framed as something needing to be done about scams, etc, and these boards used to have as many 'why didn't my bank spot the unusual transactions' threads as 'why was my transaction blocked' ones…

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134444#Comment_82134444

That sounds more straight forward than some others have reported. I am assuming that you were not asked for the cash flows into your account or quarterly income. You say you logged in. Does that mean you were using online banking? I assume not because you said that you read a biometric chip. I expect that was done using NFC with a mobile phone. It would appear that customers who do not use mobile banking are exempt from this process for now.

friolento

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134531#Comment_82134531

I generally use the app, logging in with FaceID, and no, I wasn't asked for quarterly income. They asked for annual and monthly figures. Their questions weren't geared to people who are retired, or who have multiple and irregular income streams. So I had to apply some common sense when answering some questions, always keeping in mind that I was dealing with a bank, not with HMRC, and that even HMRC are asking more intelligent questions in many cases in my annual Self Assessment.

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134566#Comment_82134566

Santander will have noticed that new app based banks require their customers the provide selfies and take pictures of their ID. That has not met with resistance. Indeed, these banks are very popular. I expect that Santander wants to earn Brownie points with the FCA by implementing a low cost measure.

I am retired and have multiple actual and potential income streams. My actual income streams are regular but lumpy. I have a SIPP which is not in payment, so it does not provide me with any actual income, but it could do. Similarly, I do not make withdrawals for my ISA, so it does not provide me with any income, but it could do. The question seems to be what is your income from investments, rather than how much money could you withdraw from them.

In an extreme case, a retired gentleman could live entirely off a stash of gold coins. He could say his income is zero, or he could say that his income is what he receives each year from selling some of his coins.

Chief_of_Staffy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134468#Comment_82134468

That's why I often stress it's the framework implemented by government that is the root cause of the problem. However, banks are not blameless. Aside from the often incompetent implementation, banks across the board are happy to lie to the customer about the reasons for these measures.

All banks do it, but a random example, from Nationwide "…It’s called ‘Strong Customer Authentication’. And it’s there to keep your money safe..."

A blatant lie and legal impossibility. At the very least it should say that these measures are there to prevent unauthorised access to your account. And full disclosure would mandate they state they are there primarily to keep the bank's own money safe.

Eco_Miser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82134768#Comment_82134768

It could be argued that an ISA, or taxable saving account, or GIA generate income (interest or dividend) whether or not you withdraw it, and conversely, money withdrawn from any of them is not income but repayment of capital, possibly with a capital gain or loss.

I've no idea whether a bank would be interested in customer's actual income, or cashflows through their accounts. In my case these are vastly different, thanks to meeting various minimum payments in, to waive fees or activate interest, and recycling Regular Savings.

friolento

I've no idea whether a bank would be interested in customer's actual income, or cashflows through their accounts

They are, for money laundering reasons. Where they deem that unusually high amounts of money go through your accounts, they may request explanations for the source of the money.

I suspect their monitoring is mainly done by software, and that this software is smart enough to ignore lumps of money coming from accounts in your own name, e.g. Regular Saver maturity.