Bank suddenly asking me to confirm ID, address and means - is this normal?

[Hereford]

Hi

Just been to local Axa agency.  Very helpful girl told us that "lots of English customers" had been into the office yesterday to complain about and query the email.  She had therefore telephoned upwards and been told that we did not have to complete the form.  She implied that another email would be sent (can they identify their "English" (sic) clients?).

We shall do as the young lady says and ignore this request and see what happens. We did say we were willing to provide identity and address verification if requested.   We absolutely agree that if we wanted advice or one of their savings products further information would be required and we would accept that, but not necessarily all the info they asked for on this email.

Interesting that we were not told that any "French" people had queried the request for information...

Mrs H

[allanb]

[quote user="Daft Doctor"]Has anyone had previous recent experience of this kind of thing...?[/quote]

Yes, and not only from French banks.  We have had three requests of this kind from UK banks within the last 6 months. 

[quote]...and are we obliged to comply?[/quote]

Yes and no.  I think all banks are subject to laws arising from European directives on tax evasion and money laundering.  So we probably have to provide enough information to allow them to comply with such laws.

But I believe the banks put their own interpretation on the regulations, and some of their specific requirements are unrealistic or downright silly.  For instance, to provide one of their "essential" signed statements we would have had to make a round trip of a couple of hundred km to see the nearest British consul.  And on that particular one, they gave way: I said I wasn't going to do it, and invited them to close the account if they were sufficiently unhappy.  (They didn't.)

I believe that some banks over-react to regulations by writing ludicrously detailed "requirements" and not giving their employees authority to use some common sense.   If you have a genuine problem – like being asked to provide a document that doesn't exist (which also happened to us) – you can probably resist, especially if you're willing to fight your way one or two levels up the chain of command.