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Anti-money laundering regulations are completely crazy these days. I recently opened a child bank account (in the UK) and the application form had one page for

Anti-money laundering regulations are completely crazy these days. I recently opened a child bank account (in the UK) and the application form had one page for parents and child's details then 5 pages related to money laundering... Edit: here we are... Send in the immature downvotes.

dazc 8y ago
I kinda agree but money laundering is a big problem too.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  Somewhat off topic, but I’ve always thought of money laundering as kind of a “lame” crime: it’s what the government charges you with when you seem suspicious but it can’t figure out what you did.
  - pavlov 8y ago
    It can be easier to catch the big fish for their lame but documented crimes, rather than prove the big conspiracy they're running. Al Capone was convicted for tax evasion after all.
  - auntienomen 8y ago
    Uhh no, the US money laundering statute requires a) that the money involved be the proceeds of specific criminal activities, and b) that the financial transactions be _knowingly_ used to disguise the origins and ownership of money. It's used to punish people who are working to disguise serious crimes, principally the mob.
    - jstanley 8y ago
      In the UK, which is where Revolut is, in order to be convicted of money laundering you merely need to be charged with money laundering, and then fail to convince a court that you are innocent of money laundering. It's one of the few crimes where you're guilty until proven innocent.
- walrus01 8y ago
  If anybody was serious about tackling the money laundering problem, the corporate death penalty should have been applied to HSBC ten years ago. And its assets broken up and parceled out to more ethical banks.
- deanalevitt 8y ago
  The onus is on legislators to craft anti-laundering regulations that work while minimizing false positives. I wonder if those 5 pages of forms actually negatively impacted any criminal activity.
unparagoned 8y ago
Blame the banks then. The regulations are only like this since the banks have consistently and deliberately facilitated money laundering.
- entity345 8y ago
  Banks' business is to manage money not to turn money away... It's not unethical behaviour. It's simple business. No-one in any business is going to ask where their customers got their money from, you just try to make customers spend their cash on you rather than a competitor. Banks have to comply with the law, of course, but beyond that you cannot expect them to hurt their business for no reason. This "holier than thou" attitude is hypocrisy, frankly.
  - Geeek 8y ago
    ...and to comply with the law. The law that was created in response to their unethical behavior.
    - keymone 8y ago
      unfortunately for us, reasonable people, there is no such thing for banks (and businesses in general) as "unethical behavior" when it comes to money. their responsibility is to increase shareholders' (or clients') value. they must comply with the law and often they don't or they devise clever workarounds, abusing judicial loopholes, and sometimes they get caught and then sometimes some scape-goat might end up in jail for couple years. until we see a mass execution^W^W real punishment of top management of all of large banks on this planet - nothing will change in the foreseeable future.
      - Geeek 8y ago
        >when it comes to money. their responsibility is to increase shareholders' (or clients') value. That is not an empirical fact. It's a specific interpretation of how things should be in the world. Some see it that way and other see it differently.
fargo 8y ago
If anything, anti-money laundering regulations are not even nearly enough
walrus01 8y ago
well, the itunes ToS says you can't use it to develop nuclear weapons, or in north korea, so...
Canada 8y ago
Agreed. Depositors should not have to explain anything or answer any questions about their money, where it comes from, where it's going, or what it's for unless and until some specific, evidence backed allegation of wrong doing is made. KYC/AML as currently practiced is wrong and immoral in my opinion, and should be completely scrapped.
bouncycastle 8y ago
Exactly. Banks have more detailed info on us than Facebook,. Meanwhile, we are all treated like potential criminals. I understand that sometimes anti-money laundering regulations are necessary, but these days it seems like the're too invasive.
buboard 8y ago
There's always crypto ...
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
I actually lost my business account with HSBC over these new regulations (UK again). They asked me for additional information to identify myself and apparently the evidence I provided wasn't adequate, so they closed my account at very short notice. This having been a personal customer of theirs for 20 years and a business customer for 7. Thankfully I got everything moved over to Lloyds and I couldn't be happier with their service.

dazc 8y ago

I kinda agree but money laundering is a big problem too.

saagarjha 8y ago
Somewhat off topic, but I’ve always thought of money laundering as kind of a “lame” crime: it’s what the government charges you with when you seem suspicious but it can’t figure out what you did.
- pavlov 8y ago
  It can be easier to catch the big fish for their lame but documented crimes, rather than prove the big conspiracy they're running. Al Capone was convicted for tax evasion after all.
- auntienomen 8y ago
  Uhh no, the US money laundering statute requires a) that the money involved be the proceeds of specific criminal activities, and b) that the financial transactions be _knowingly_ used to disguise the origins and ownership of money. It's used to punish people who are working to disguise serious crimes, principally the mob.
  - jstanley 8y ago
    In the UK, which is where Revolut is, in order to be convicted of money laundering you merely need to be charged with money laundering, and then fail to convince a court that you are innocent of money laundering. It's one of the few crimes where you're guilty until proven innocent.
walrus01 8y ago
If anybody was serious about tackling the money laundering problem, the corporate death penalty should have been applied to HSBC ten years ago. And its assets broken up and parceled out to more ethical banks.
deanalevitt 8y ago
The onus is on legislators to craft anti-laundering regulations that work while minimizing false positives. I wonder if those 5 pages of forms actually negatively impacted any criminal activity.

unparagoned 8y ago

Blame the banks then. The regulations are only like this since the banks have consistently and deliberately facilitated money laundering.

entity345 8y ago
Banks' business is to manage money not to turn money away... It's not unethical behaviour. It's simple business. No-one in any business is going to ask where their customers got their money from, you just try to make customers spend their cash on you rather than a competitor. Banks have to comply with the law, of course, but beyond that you cannot expect them to hurt their business for no reason. This "holier than thou" attitude is hypocrisy, frankly.
- Geeek 8y ago
  ...and to comply with the law. The law that was created in response to their unethical behavior.
  - keymone 8y ago
    unfortunately for us, reasonable people, there is no such thing for banks (and businesses in general) as "unethical behavior" when it comes to money. their responsibility is to increase shareholders' (or clients') value. they must comply with the law and often they don't or they devise clever workarounds, abusing judicial loopholes, and sometimes they get caught and then sometimes some scape-goat might end up in jail for couple years. until we see a mass execution^W^W real punishment of top management of all of large banks on this planet - nothing will change in the foreseeable future.
    - Geeek 8y ago
      >when it comes to money. their responsibility is to increase shareholders' (or clients') value. That is not an empirical fact. It's a specific interpretation of how things should be in the world. Some see it that way and other see it differently.

fargo 8y ago

If anything, anti-money laundering regulations are not even nearly enough

walrus01 8y ago

well, the itunes ToS says you can't use it to develop nuclear weapons, or in north korea, so...

Canada 8y ago

Agreed. Depositors should not have to explain anything or answer any questions about their money, where it comes from, where it's going, or what it's for unless and until some specific, evidence backed allegation of wrong doing is made. KYC/AML as currently practiced is wrong and immoral in my opinion, and should be completely scrapped.

bouncycastle 8y ago

Exactly. Banks have more detailed info on us than Facebook,. Meanwhile, we are all treated like potential criminals. I understand that sometimes anti-money laundering regulations are necessary, but these days it seems like the're too invasive.

buboard 8y ago

There's always crypto ...

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago

I actually lost my business account with HSBC over these new regulations (UK again). They asked me for additional information to identify myself and apparently the evidence I provided wasn't adequate, so they closed my account at very short notice. This having been a personal customer of theirs for 20 years and a business customer for 7. Thankfully I got everything moved over to Lloyds and I couldn't be happier with their service.