Over the top, intrusive KYC from Santander?

[seekingbalance]

Anyone had one of these, and/or can give me some thoughts about whether this is appropriate and necessary to follow Know Your Customer rules, or is it some fishing expedition in disguise? To be clear this is totally unsolicited, I have not recently contacted them asking for new savings or investment products or advice.


I've held an Abbey National then Santander current account for over 30 years and currently use it as my main account. As such a lot of money goes through it in terms of regular income and most of our spending, plus regular larger transfers of money from savings in other accounts as they come to the end of their fixed terms or I change accounts for better rates.

This week I got a letter titled "Missing information" saying "We need some important information from you" and some spiel about how they need more information to be able to serve me better and to enable me to access their full range of products and services. They also reference their need to "meet our UK legal and Regulatory obligations".

All fine so far - until I then look at the questions and the proofs and "supporting documentation" they require.

They start with my employment history, including job titles, date ranges, salary, bonus - and ask for payslips or letters from my employer confirming i work for them and how much they paid me
Then sources of income for the last 12 months other than employment with proofs and supporting bank statements and trading account statements
Then Pension income plus proofs from pension supplier
Then sales of shares and investments including proof of source of all funds - with proofs for EVERY sale and dividend (I actively trade and have a LOT of these things and also hold a lot of funds paying small to large dividends, across a number of accounts)
Then income from savings, including evidence of where i got my funds and statements from every provider
Then, finally, they want proof of where my original funds came from for all of these investments! From when i first opened any account (I have been doing this stuff for 40 years!)

They then promise, over 2 full pages of text, to take care of all this information!

I plan to phone them tomorrow or next day to basically say there is no way I am giving them all this information even if i could now find it all and i had it all.

My question to the forum is - is anyone else getting anything like this from Santander or any other provider? And is this a real fact find pushed by the Government for KYC or is this just a way for Santander to get a crap ton of my financial information to then try to sell me stuff?

I'd be interested in peoples' views.

[CliffEdge]

My god that is chilling.

[richlist]

Try just saying no or reply with a charge you'll make per copy supplied. If they want that lot they need to offer you an employment contract
Presumably they have a complaints procedure, you then have the banking ombudsman and ultimately a raft of banks that are looking for new customers.

[seekingbalance]

Try just saying no ?
Presumably they have a complaints procedure, you then have the banking ombudsman and ultimately a raft of banks that are looking for new customers.

Yeah, that is what I plan to do when I call them. I'd prefer not to move my account, as i manage about 30 DDs through it for various stuff and have my online setup nicely sorted for payments and so on, so it would be a pain setting it all up with another bank, but I'll certainly do that if they can't confirm this is mandated by the Government and not just them seeking all my information to then try to sell me stuff. I don't recall they asked for this much when I actually did acquiesce to their requests to see if they could offer me fantastic products about 6 years ago (they couldn't as their list of funds and products really sucks)!

[Alaric]

but I'll certainly do that if they can't confirm this is mandated by the Government and not just them seeking all my information to then try to sell me stuff.)!

Sound as if they are employing someone who used to work at Selftrade. They eventually backed down It wasn't clear whether that was from the barrage of complaints or pressuee from regulators to stop being silly. Government regulation is written in an ambiguous manner, it's up to the provider to assess the risks.

Mpst UK financial providers work on the premise of assuming funds are clean when they come from within the UK or even world financial system.

[mc2fool]

I plan to phone them tomorrow or next day to basically say there is no way I am giving them all this information even if i could now find it all and i had it all.

My question to the forum is - is anyone else getting anything like this from Santander or any other provider? And is this a real fact find pushed by the Government for KYC or is this just a way for Santander to get a crap ton of my financial information to then try to sell me stuff?

Well I'm a Santander customer and I've not received anything like that, and I would strongly suspect that it's a fishing expedition to try and sell you stuff.

Does the letter threaten any consequences if you don't supply the information? Suspension of account, etc? If not I'd just ignore it. I'd certainly not call them, as all you're likely to get is a front line flunky reading canned responses off of a script.

As Alaric says, sounds like they've employed someone from Selftrade, and there's an action from that debacle you can take on, which is to scan in the letter and send it to BBC Money Box. I'd try Martin Lewis too.

[richlist]

I might be inclined to play the game with them by keeping on asking them for further clarification or more details of what they require. You could waste their time for at least 3 or 4 weeks until you've exhausted all possible questions.....finally concluding with telling them you don't have any of the records they have reqested.

What's a KYC ?

[Mike4]

What's a KYC ?

"Know Your Customer".

Estate agents are supposed to do it to aren't they?

[Mike4]

Try just saying no or reply with a charge you'll make per copy supplied.

I'd not even do that, I'd ignore it.

By offering to supply the info for a charge, what if they accept and say ok that's fine with us, send your bill along with all the info?

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Anyone had one of these, and/or can give me some thoughts about whether this is appropriate and necessary to follow Know Your Customer rules, or is it some fishing expedition in disguise? To be clear this is totally unsolicited, I have not recently contacted them asking for new savings or investment products or advice.


I've held an Abbey National then Santander current account for over 30 years and currently use it as my main account. As such a lot of money goes through it in terms of regular income and most of our spending, plus regular larger transfers of money from savings in other accounts as they come to the end of their fixed terms or I change accounts for better rates.

This week I got a letter titled "Missing information" saying "We need some important information from you" and some spiel about how they need more information to be able to serve me better and to enable me to access their full range of products and services. They also reference their need to "meet our UK legal and Regulatory obligations".

All fine so far - until I then look at the questions and the proofs and "supporting documentation" they require.

They start with my employment history, including job titles, date ranges, salary, bonus - and ask for payslips or letters from my employer confirming i work for them and how much they paid me
Then sources of income for the last 12 months other than employment with proofs and supporting bank statements and trading account statements
Then Pension income plus proofs from pension supplier
Then sales of shares and investments including proof of source of all funds - with proofs for EVERY sale and dividend (I actively trade and have a LOT of these things and also hold a lot of funds paying small to large dividends, across a number of accounts)
Then income from savings, including evidence of where i got my funds and statements from every provider
Then, finally, they want proof of where my original funds came from for all of these investments! From when i first opened any account (I have been doing this stuff for 40 years!)

They then promise, over 2 full pages of text, to take care of all this information!

I plan to phone them tomorrow or next day to basically say there is no way I am giving them all this information even if i could now find it all and i had it all.

My question to the forum is - is anyone else getting anything like this from Santander or any other provider? And is this a real fact find pushed by the Government for KYC or is this just a way for Santander to get a crap ton of my financial information to then try to sell me stuff?

I'd be interested in peoples' views.

Call me a clever [expletive deleted] but I'd ask them to provide me with a copy of the Act of Parliament that requires them to ask and you to answer. Failing which I'd suggest them that if that want to serve you better they can do one.

I've not had anything from them and like you have been with them since they were Abbey National.

AiY(D)

[AF62]

As such a lot of money goes through it in terms of regular income and most of our spending, plus regular larger transfers of money from savings in other accounts as they come to the end of their fixed terms or I change accounts for better rates.

Which puts you in their ‘unusual’ category and different from the vast majority of other customers.

If you declined to provide what they asked for then I would put money on you finding your account suddenly closed and a refusal by them to discuss the matter - not saying that is right, just what is likely to happen.

[Maroochydore]

Yeah, that is what I plan to do when I call them. I'd prefer not to move my account, as i manage about 30 DDs through it for various stuff and have my online setup nicely sorted for payments and so on, so it would be a pain setting it all up with another bank, but I'll certainly do that

No pain at all if you use your 'new' bank's switching service. They will handle it all for you and if anything should slip through the net Santander are obliged to transfer any incoming payments to your new account.

[Alaric]

Call me a clever Pink marshmallows but I'd ask them to provide me with a copy of the Act of Parliament that requires them to ask and you to answer. Failing which I'd suggest them that if that want to serve you better they can do one.

I've not had anything from them and like you have been with them since they were Abbey National.

They would probably quote the Money Laundering Regulations. These are a matter of interpretation as demands for a full life history seem quite rare and haven't been seen since selftrade went over the top with similar demands.

Longevity of the account could be the problem if it goes back to the days when there was a degree of mutual trust between building society and customer.

I've had a marginally similar problem with unit trusrs/OEICs. taht I held directly and had done for a number of years, I was able to transfer most of them to a Broker without providing any evidence, but when I came ti sell the one the Broker didn't offer, I had to go through an MLR process. That's despite having the holding for twenty years and receiving regular correspondence.

[scrumpyjack]

Sounds like they think you are a Politically Exposed Person!
https://www.betterbusinessfinance.co.uk ... -in-the-uk

I don't think there is any legal basis for these questions.

In your position the first thing I would do is open an account with another bank so you are ready to move your account if need be.

Selftrade tried this on me a few years ago and I refused. They gave up in the end.

[Myfyr]

Sounds like they think you are a Politically Exposed Person!
https://www.betterbusinessfinance.co.uk ... -in-the-uk

I don't think there is any legal basis for these questions.

In your position the first thing I would do is open an account with another bank so you are ready to move your account if need be.

Selftrade tried this on me a few years ago and I refused. They gave up in the end.

Me too, I transferred my ISA away from Selftrade to Hargreaves Lansdown as a result, where it remains to this day and gets added to every year.

ISA is only invested in ITs so a cheap ISA at £45 per annum. Plus dealing costs and sometimes stamp duty obviously.

[Stompa]

It looks like they have form:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/di ... rmation/p1

[seekingbalance]

Thanks for the inputs, especially the link to the moneysavingexpert forum- which was interesting to read, though it did not give a decent conclusion. This at least shows me they have been doing this for some years now - the list of items requested looks exactly the same as the ones in my letter.

The thing that concerns me is this is not as a result of some new account request from me, or any other interaction with them - this is just my joint home current account. If it was not for the ridiculous £85k limit on compensation and the constant need to chase the best interest rates because suppliers constantly withdraw them or don't offer anything for existing customers it would just be a plain old current account receiving two pensions and the occasional top up from savings as my spending exceeds my pension income, all used to pay a flow of not very exciting bills and purchases.

All the investment information they claim to need (and will I assume say it is for the Government) is put on my tax returns where appropriate (most of my funds are in ISAs and SIPPs so it's not very much taxable income).

I already have another current account - I may start to polish that up to be ready to take over - and may take out another joint account just in case also.

And, just for the avoidance of doubt, all my assets come from saving half my income for 15 years, and 2 early retirement lump sums plus 25 years of buying shares now held at a comfortable profit, almost all in tax free accounts, none of which are held with Santander. and ironically, as this is and always has been our main account, pretty much every penny we have (other than investment gains) has at one point flowed through this very account, so they actually probably have better records of it than I do!

[mc2fool]

Yeah, that is what I plan to do when I call them. I'd prefer not to move my account, as i manage about 30 DDs through it for various stuff and have my online setup nicely sorted for payments and so on, so it would be a pain setting it all up with another bank, but I'll certainly do that

No pain at all if you use your 'new' bank's switching service. They will handle it all for you and if anything should slip through the net Santander are obliged to transfer any incoming payments to your new account.

I'm not sure about handle it "all". The current account switching service will transfer direct debits and standing orders, and they say incoming payments "(eg your salary)". However I can't find any reference to state pension, and you'd think that'd be a common enough concern to list explicitly.

And while they do say they'll forward incoming payments from old to new for 36 months, and inform the sender of the new details, there's scant detail on how reliable the latter is in effecting a change. Bet it doesn't work with foreign incoming payments. And then what about "linked accounts"? You know, all those savings accounts, etc, where you have to give them a "linked" current account where money can (only) be transferred out to -- and in many cases where money can only be accepted in from. Bet it doesn't change those either!

In any case, seekingbalance, you haven't said what consequences they say there'll be if you don't supply the information, if any. I'd take a careful read of the letter, including any and all fine print, looking for that. Threatening to just close the account if you don't supply the info would actually be less painful than partially or fully blocking/suspending it until and unless you do.

Indeed, while I'm pretty sure my reaction to such a letter would be (as I did with Selftrade) to move elsewhere in disgust, I think I'd avoid using the current account switching service in case that triggered a block, not allowing you to switch until you returned the info they want. I'd just spend the time and do it all by hand ... not sure quite how you got to 30DDs, although I've probably got that many linked accounts!

[scrumpyjack]

You could write back thanking them for their letter and say that it is equally important for you to know your bankers. So can they please submit the following information for their chief executive .....

[richlist]

I'm always mindful of 'not putting all my eggs in one basket'. To that end I have always operated a few current accounts at the same time, all of which have a few direct debits/ standing orders/ nom' account status etc and some even pay interest. Seems even more of a good idea now after reading your post.