Verifying that your previously recorded address is still your current address also protects against identity theft!Yes people's details change. However I was proposing to open an account using the same address that EBS had provided me with a mortgage for, I see no point in further validation of this address. Perhaps if I was proposing to use another address then they could have asked me for something, this would help prevent identity theft.
having established that I am Mr Ardmacha
How was this established?
The Act does not require these procedures from existing customers, who do some financial institutions require this hassle?
As an existing customer I could open a new account with BOI by just dropping into the branch and signing a form. I then went to the EBS, an organisation I partly own, and they wouldn't talk to me without an appointment and without proof of address etc. This from an organisation that hold the deeds to my house! In present times it is surely in the interest of the owners of the EBS (i.e. me) to have more depositors, yet the management of the EBS are making it more difficult for depositors to open accounts, even where the identity of the depositor is not in any doubt!
Irish Nationwide seem to have the same bizarre policies.
Get real man- every insitution is drowning in compliance issues that they have to meet such as requesting proof of ID and address.
I am perfectly real, the institutions that do not ask for additional information of this sort when opening accounts are in full compliance with the legislation. Money laundering is based on "know your customer", it makes no sense to treat existing customers exactly the same as ones you haven't dealt with before.
Do you have any evidence to back this theory up or is it just a hunch on your part?I actually think they are not running a tight ship, good practice requires discretion and judgment, not simplistic blanket policies. They are simply taking the lazy approach by having everyone send in the the same stuff so that if something happens then they can say then it not my fault without a real interest in fraud prevention or money laundering.