Like Tree12Likes

HSBC Compliance to get tougher....

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,963

    HSBC Compliance to get tougher....

    Bend over and get ready for probing, in the nicest possible manner, with an apology in advance, from Asia's Finest Local Global Bank.

    Effective immediately, retail customers must disclose how their accounts are used, in addition to providing their address, contact details, employment and income history, to qualify for an HSBC account. Corporate clients must provide information with supporting documents on the nature of their business, ownership data, the jurisdiction of their operations, source of funding and the purpose of the account, said the bank’s Hong Kong chief executive Diana Cesar.

    “It’s going to be a frustrating exercise,” Cesar said. “We understand how frustrating the requests for information from banks can be, particularly for longstanding customers, and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience they cause, but this information is essential to enabling us to detect those who are trying to abuse the financial system.”
    Wonder what consumers can do to detect banks who are trying to abuse their personal information.

    HSBC’s new compliance rules require clients to provide more account information | South China Morning Post
    dengxi likes this.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    930

    Fine then, although I think that things like this should be a two way street. Let the bank inform the customer of any recent financial impropriety, criminal activity, financial regularity worldwide to inform the customer that they are a bank of probity.

    What will the data be used for, how will it be kept and will it be sold, if so to who. What will the money be used for? Outside Hong Kong? High risk low risk? Ethical investments? Then the customer can make an informed decision on banking with them.

    JAherbert and misshappy26 like this.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,963

    Very very hard for the average user of HSBC to move - there is lethargy and then there is their ATM network.

    I'd really like to see how they begin their system wide due diligence - softly or harshly.

    Then comes the "will today's qualification be good enough tomorrow" type scenario. Customers need to be assured that a bank cannot go randomly shutting their accounts down, because some low level droid or bug in the code (or both) deemed a customer to be "unqualified".

    God knows none of the banks are ethical - they cannot be banks in that case. Matter of choosing the most consistent bank with the fewest of problems.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Sai Kung
    Posts
    4,151
    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Very very hard for the average user of HSBC to move - there is lethargy and then there is their ATM network.
    The ATM network argument is a red herring. If the amount of ATM's accessible was important everyone would have accounts with one of the banks on the Jetco network. So that doesn't cut it.

    We do have a corporate HSBC bank account mainly because the majority of our local clientele have HSBC accounts and I have an extreme allergic reaction to HK bank branches which manifests in me wanting to exercise a form of population control. Not looking forward to having to go through this shit with them just to maintain an account. The issue is they know who is laundering money and they will be more than willing to knock down a few small guys to maintain those accounts.
    JAherbert likes this.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    850

    Are you all implying that it's only HSBC compliance getting tougher? I believe this happening across all banks due to industry pressure.


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,963
    Quote Originally Posted by wayland:
    Are you all implying that it's only HSBC compliance getting tougher? I believe this happening across all banks due to industry pressure.
    There is industry pressure and then there is pressure due to fines / past negligence.

    To be seen... we have accounts with several banks (personal and commercial)...

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    13,099
    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    I'd really like to see how they begin their system wide due diligence - softly or harshly.

    Then comes the "will today's qualification be good enough tomorrow" type scenario. Customers need to be assured that a bank cannot go randomly shutting their accounts down, because some low level droid or bug in the code (or both) deemed a customer to be "unqualified".
    They are not shutting down accounts(YET), but adding all sorts of stupid limitations.
    These are my direct experiences:

    I have an HSBC UK account. They mailed a few times, I ignored them. They then called a few times, I told them I was too busy to answer their useless questions. My UK accounts cant use the ATMs anymore until the missing info has been obtained. Never used the ATM with those accounts, so I dont care.

    I'm a 20 year old Premier account. They mailed me, I ignored it and then they called. I decided to not answer their one stupid question : My Wife's job title (I told them she does not have a title). They have threatened to stop my online overseas transfer privileges until its complete. My limit was at zero for that, so I ignored that too....

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,963
    They are not shutting down accounts(YET), but adding all sorts of stupid limitations.
    They have been handing (or perhaps threatening to hand) walking papers to several offshore company accounts which have been operating for decades.

    Used to be common for one thing, in HK to buy property through offshored companies (developers did that to ensure that they continued to have appropriate holdings in their estates... etc .. etc ... etc..). Also used to be common for wealth transfer when HK had some sort of estate / inheritance tax.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    6,317

    I ignored the letter entirely. Still works. Just can't open new accounts. Doesn't matter just for small stuff anyway. Too lazy to deal with them.


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,963

    @MandM! - hopefully you have alternative accounts.

    In the commercial area what I've seen happen with single account companies. The reality was not as bad, but you need to be prepared for the worst case secnario.

    Bank A - Dear Customer, sorry, we cannot serve your company anymore. Your remaining funds will be sent to you by check.

    (panic)

    Bank B to Z - Dear Potential Money Launderer... it will take several weeks for us to let you know if you qualify. Sorry, cannot accept your check from Bank A.


Closed Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast