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Banks should close accounts for administrative reasons only, with ample notice period, and give full disclosure of the reason. Balance should be made available

Banks should close accounts for administrative reasons only, with ample notice period, and give full disclosure of the reason. Balance should be made available as soon as possible once the customer present an alternative account, or he should be able to get a check. For regulatory reasons, only the government should be able to mandate closure and for that it should be backed by a judicial order. I don't fucking care about idiots mumbling about "muh, terrorism! money laundering", fuck you and your safetyism. We live in a democracy, and nobody should be punished except after a judicial procedure with ample defense rights. Banks regulatory requirements should stop at making sure they collect all the required information and report suspicious activity to the government. They are not in the business of policing people, investigating, judging and punishing people. They don't have this mandate.

raincom 3y ago
Two things: (a) Banks can be vague in their SAR filings with “transaction with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose” (b) What BSA manul says: "No bank, and no director, officer, employee, or agent of a bank that reports a suspicious transaction may notify any person involved in the transaction that the transaction has been reported." [1] This deadly combination is enough for banks to NOT disclose. That's why a vague reason is provided by banks; here is Chase's template: "Financial institutions have an obligation to know our customers and monitor transactions that flow through our customers' accounts. After careful consideration, we decided to close your account because of unexpected activity on these or another Chase account." [1] https://bsaaml.ffiec.gov/manual/AssessingComplianceWithBSARegulatoryRequirements/04 https://bsaaml.ffiec.gov/manual/AssessingComplianceWithBSARe...
- elzbardico 3y ago
  The manual says that customer should not be informed for the reasons of reporting. But it doesn't say the banks should close the accounts.
  - raincom 3y ago
    Since the first SAR is filled with “transaction with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose”, subsequent transactions from the same account would become "transactions with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose". So, Banks are on the hook to file subsequent SARs. Banks exit customers after a couple of SARs in the name of de-risking. One way to avoid getting out of this trap is to join the club of "private banking" services provided by big banks. It is like Airline's first class vs. economy class customers. Banks put different resources for private banking clients such as: (a) manual override by humans (b) reduce false positives by algorithms by tweaking parameters (c) specialized representatives, cust service folks.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

raincom 3y ago

Two things: (a) Banks can be vague in their SAR filings with “transaction with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose” (b) What BSA manul says: "No bank, and no director, officer, employee, or agent of a bank that reports a suspicious transaction may notify any person involved in the transaction that the transaction has been reported." [1] This deadly combination is enough for banks to NOT disclose. That's why a vague reason is provided by banks; here is Chase's template: "Financial institutions have an obligation to know our customers and monitor transactions that flow through our customers' accounts. After careful consideration, we decided to close your account because of unexpected activity on these or another Chase account." [1] https://bsaaml.ffiec.gov/manual/AssessingComplianceWithBSARegulatoryRequirements/04 https://bsaaml.ffiec.gov/manual/AssessingComplianceWithBSARe...

elzbardico 3y ago
The manual says that customer should not be informed for the reasons of reporting. But it doesn't say the banks should close the accounts.
- raincom 3y ago
  Since the first SAR is filled with “transaction with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose”, subsequent transactions from the same account would become "transactions with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose". So, Banks are on the hook to file subsequent SARs. Banks exit customers after a couple of SARs in the name of de-risking. One way to avoid getting out of this trap is to join the club of "private banking" services provided by big banks. It is like Airline's first class vs. economy class customers. Banks put different resources for private banking clients such as: (a) manual override by humans (b) reduce false positives by algorithms by tweaking parameters (c) specialized representatives, cust service folks.
deleted 3y ago
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