Regulation has increased for good or for bad. It is a bind and can be time consuming (although, if I am honest it doesn't sound too onerous in your case if it was just a 10 second credit check that will have zero impact on your life).
Tbf, when HSBC are fined hundreds of millions for 'just looking after cash' it is not surprising things toughen up. Now I am not for one minute suggesting you are a part of a Mexican Drugs Cartel but those guys were, one would imagine, only depositing not borrowing, so there is risk to both lending to fraudsters and taking money and unwittingly washing it through the system for banks.
As frustrating as it is I do think most measures are there to protect investor and bank. I am sure we would all be quick to moan if a bank did not do checks and someone then defrauded our accounts of all the money in them.
Plus, to some degree it is your fault for being so bloody old that opening your bank account pre-dates computers so Coop don't have any previous KYC for you on their systems. ;-)
The FATF outfit mentioned in that link has members from far and wide. Including the likes of Russia, India and Argentina for example. (We get represented twice by the EU Commission and our own Govt.)
Also, while there are, indeed, EU Directives - mainly MiFID and AMLD - the UK Govt and Regulators were hugely influential in what actually went into these pieces of legislation. Broadly, we got what we asked for. (And as a result, things like the plague of Spanish-based boiler rooms targeting UK investors broadly disappeared.)
ETA: Sorry didn't mean to speak in jargon. MiFID = Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. AMLD = Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
Len, sounds like you're pining back to the day where your money was physically the asset of your local branch, the branch manager would know who you were and would be available to discuss this issue with. Nowadays if you try to call your local branch you're directed to a call centre either in Birmingham or in Bangladesh so either way staffed by incomprehensible, poorly trained muppets reading from a prompt sheet, and if you go into your local branch you'll be handled by one of a handful of Essex girls who probably think that your money is physically held in the bank vault. If you want to talk to the manager, he or she will probably be a clueless jobsworth with a third-class degree in Marketing from the University of Mid-Lancashire (formerly Chorley Polytechnic) whose sole job is to say 'Yes sir' and 'I'll have it looked into'. No wonder they need robots to do these checks because the clowns running these joints wouldn't think twice about doing business with someone even if they literally dumped the money on the counter in a bag labelled 'swag' and their face and hands covered in anti-theft ink.
That is a result of offering staff terms that are no better than those you get if you work on the till at WH Smith, and in some cases removing "perks" such as final salary pensions from people who have worked there 30 years. All this so they can pay their most senior staff more in annual bonus's than most of us will see in a lifetime.
What's the interest rate on that new account Len? Can't imagine it is more than a peanut.
The princely sum of 0.25% gross. The idea of the account was simply to remove any money I might receive from my current account while I decided what to do with it. I thought a savings account with my own bank would be convenient and straightforward. How wrong can a man be? If I've got to jump through hoops anyway I might as well open an account elsewhere that pays a bit more.
Len, you can give me the money, I won't ask any questions.
I haven't got it and have only been advised that there MIGHT be a small sum. We are not talking vast numbers at all. Some people would probably spend the amount on a night out.
Len, have you thought about putting it in a premium bond? Easy to open, safe and you have a small chance of winning the prize draw. Only suggesting it because the whole process of using your bank seems to have upset you, and you might not want to open up an account with another bank.
I'm sure you're more than aware of diff options, just a suggestion
Comments
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/financial-crime/index_en.htm
Tbf, when HSBC are fined hundreds of millions for 'just looking after cash' it is not surprising things toughen up. Now I am not for one minute suggesting you are a part of a Mexican Drugs Cartel but those guys were, one would imagine, only depositing not borrowing, so there is risk to both lending to fraudsters and taking money and unwittingly washing it through the system for banks.
As frustrating as it is I do think most measures are there to protect investor and bank. I am sure we would all be quick to moan if a bank did not do checks and someone then defrauded our accounts of all the money in them.
Plus, to some degree it is your fault for being so bloody old that opening your bank account pre-dates computers so Coop don't have any previous KYC for you on their systems. ;-)
The FATF outfit mentioned in that link has members from far and wide. Including the likes of Russia, India and Argentina for example. (We get represented twice by the EU Commission and our own Govt.)
Also, while there are, indeed, EU Directives - mainly MiFID and AMLD - the UK Govt and Regulators were hugely influential in what actually went into these pieces of legislation. Broadly, we got what we asked for. (And as a result, things like the plague of Spanish-based boiler rooms targeting UK investors broadly disappeared.)
ETA: Sorry didn't mean to speak in jargon. MiFID = Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. AMLD = Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
I'm sure you're more than aware of diff options, just a suggestion