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Barclays Bank and information request

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 1:12 pm
by New Dexter
Now I am sure there are some members who might use Barclays as their provider of banking services. They provide me with a private and also a business account and a letter arrived at the weekend to inform me that some of the account information "needs updating". In better English, needs to be updated. Apparently it is "very important" that all of the information they have about my business is up to date.
I read the form carefully, noting that in Barclays "different TO" is grammatically correct and saw that, apart from name address of the business owner, they want date of birth as well. Why? They also want details of the trading address.
I can understand that some of this relates to money laundering etc so perhaps some of the information will be useful to them as apparently it "helps to stop financial crime, meet regulatory standards and give the best banking service"
However, in addition they want details of business activities, sector/industry of operation, services provided, expected annual turnover, who are typical customers none of which is any of their business. In my opinion at least.
Does anyone else have experience of this or perhaps an explanation? I did try calling the 0330 number on the letter but ended up speaking to someone in India and while she did try to help her explanation wasn't very clear

Re: Barclays Bank and information request

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 3:03 pm
by John-B
I can't help with the business aspects, but I've always been concerned about giving my date of birth.

Fifteen years ago when these requests were made by any application or company, someone said that he always gave a false date of birth and address and gave gibberish or silly answers for mother's maiden name, favourite dog, first school, etc.

I've got lots of different dates of birth scattered around the internet. When some big internet company is taken over by another, they often try to merge data held on people if it's the same, so I often wonder if different dates of birth means I have different accounts floating around!

GDPR should mean more privacy, but as you say, it seems that companies just want more personal information and most of us don't trust them to keep it secret. Does it really matter if they can't tailor advice specially for you in advance for junk emails? They just pass on the data to "associated" companies. More information should only be given when you make a specific request for something.

Re: Barclays Bank and information request

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:40 pm
by AntonyB
I do not bank with Barclays, nor have a business account. However maybe due to the number of scam e-mails and documents I receive I would be suspicious of this request (maybe totally unfounded), how do they ask for this information to be provided? is the address a valid one, I received a request once from my bank HSBC for some details, the address for the return of the form seemed odd so I contacted my local branch (when there was one!) and they confirmed that it was correct but the exercise was being collated through a third party, they agreed that it looked odd.

If available (our local Barclays closed last month, local Nat West 3 months earlier and HSBC a couple of years ago! Lloyds announced closure at the same time as HSBC closed but has now stayed open, being now the only bank in town) why not go into your local Barclays Bank and speak to someone there.

Another negative option might be just to ignore and see what happens.

Not sure if the above is helpful.

Antony

Re: Barclays Bank and information request

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:06 am
by Phillmore
If you're convinced the letter is genuine I would provide the information you're happy to, but leave blank (or N/A) those details that you think are irrelevant and leave it in their court.

Re: Barclays Bank and information request

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:17 am
by Stan Thomas
I closed my account with both Barclays and LLoyds when they closed their branches in our village, simply because I take the view that in lieu of never having receiving diiddly-squat interest on my business accounts in 44 years, at least I should be entitled to go and "lean on the counter" and talk to a living person if I have a query.

For my two-pennyworth, the world is becoming far to reliant upon emailed hyperspace where you are just being treated as a string of binary numbers in some faceless memory bank. Come back George Orwell, all is forgiven!

Re: Barclays Bank and information request

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 2:46 pm
by grahamemmett
The explanation is that all financial institutions are being compelled to undertake “Know your customer” reviews as part of the drive against money laundering. If you’ve recently set up a business bank account or credit card processing facility as I have then you’ll know how petty and pedantic they are. Any villain worth his salt could fool them though.
For the DLOC we had to provide photographs of our premises, copies of business cards, contracts, other bank statements, examples of our stock plus all the directors DOBs and home addresses. Defining what we did as a business was hard as we didn’t fit comfortably in any one box.
Of course the English in the letter won’t be to a high standard, nobody seems to care any more.

Re: Barclays Bank and information request

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:29 am
by Barrie
I had one of these requests in connection to a business account with with Natwest.
I filed it in the waste paper basket.
About six months later I had a reminder.
Another addition to my WPB filing system.
About a year later, because I no longer needed it, I closed the account and withdrew all my money without consequence.

Quite a pointless waste of paper especially as I have banked with NW, both business and personal accounts, since 1971 so they should KYC after all that time.
In a similar vein, in a professional capacity I have had to write to an MP I have known for years to tell him that the photocopy of his passport I held indicated that it was about to expire and that if we were to continue to do business he had to prove his identity to me again. Crazy.