Nostalgia - before the automated exchange of information

[anotherone]

I remember the time when there was no automated exchange of information, no KYC, little due diligence.

During that time, you could open a bank account wherever you wanted. People didn't ask you why you cashed in $1000 from a different country. I had non resident bank account with bank cards. Bank cards were never refused. Banks never contacted me. It always worked smoothly. It was easy to open and close accounts. I remember a time when the bank representatives were nice and they looked happy to do their job.

I think we head to a worldwide totalitarian regime. In this new world, we are monitored, we are all potential "criminals" for the financial institutions. We are tracked by robots like in the movie minority reports.

99% of us are doing nothing to harm people. I think that all the KYC, AML AEOI are just BS. I does not help to make the world better. This didn't stop Daesh from growing in Syria. It didn't kill the mafia in Sicile, the drug cartels in Mexico and Brazil. The OCDE wants to create a matrix and control our life, that's it.

If governments want to fight money laundering, they should fight the root cause of the problem like drug dealing, not money laundering.

If you want to share your nostalgia, reply below.

 

[Sols]

Governments realized they lacked the resources to fight financial crime, so they outsourced financial crime fighting to banks and anyone involved in financial services. The result has been increasingly onerous compliance procedures and loss of privacy.

I have not yet seen any evidence that money laundering has been significantly reduced since these new measures have been introduced. It's harder to launder money now than it was 5, 10, and 20 years ago. But all it seems to have accomplished, has been to centralize money laundering to organized criminals who have the connections and resources to launder money.

Tax revenues has gone up, though, and that's all the motivation needed to keep this going. Nowadays, money launderers are some of the most diligent tax payers out there.

 

[KJK]

If governments want to fight money laundering, they should fight the root cause of the problem like drug dealing, not money laundering.

You say money laundering is not the root cause. Though is drug dealing the root cause? Maybe the war on drugs and ridiculous laws are the true root cause.

If you want to share your nostalgia, reply below.

I cannot share my nostalgia because I don't have any. I only have some faint memories from my childhood but back then I didn't have any money and I didn't worry about these questions. People born into the post 9/11 world won't even understand they are surveilled 24/7, their data is recorded forever and shared cross-border.

They will consider it normal because of the "I've got nothing to hide" argument (this is an actual answer I recently got from an acquaintance when I tried to convince him to care more about his financial and digital privacy).

 

[John Andrews]

Maybe the war on drugs and ridiculous laws are the true root cause.

The governments themselves are the biggest drug dealers and arms traders so I disagree

 

[Martin Everson]

I think we head to a worldwide totalitarian regime.

That's the goal of all of this, especially in the EU . @mange38 made a good post below

https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/threads/dac6-new-eu-tax-disclosure-rules.28021/post-119424
However everything labelled as money laundering is mostly pretext to gather more and more personal data on each persons life by government for nefarious purposes . The worst mislabeling I have seen is "prevention of terrorism financing". Are they kidding? That is the biggest pile of BS I have ever heard. The terror attacks across Europe are carried out with kitchen knives, hammers and improvised household items. None of them could have been prevented by monitoring banking transactions. It is not as if terrorists need to wire 10 euros to each other to buy kitchen knives and fake explosive vests .

 

[Sols]

However everything labelled as money laundering is mostly pretext to gather more and more personal data on each persons life by government for nefarious purposes . The worst mislabeling I have seen is "prevention of terrorism financing". Are they kidding? That is the biggest pile of BS I have ever heard. The terror attacks across Europe are carried out with kitchen knives, hammers and improvised household items. None of them could have been prevented by monitoring banking transactions. It is not as if terrorists need to wire 10 euros to each other to buy kitchen knives and fake explosive vests .

Soon we'll see Tesco and Carrefour appoint MLROs and hold annual AML training sessions with their staff to teach them not to sell anything sharp or pointy to terrorists.

 

[Martin Everson]

Soon we'll see Tesco and Carrefour appoint MLROs and hold annual AML training sessions with their staff to teach them not to sell anything sharp or pointy to terrorists.

lol...They'll probably ask customers for two forms of photo ID and to use a credit card to buy a box of matches. Meanwhile real terrorists and head choppers in the middle east get labelled as moderate rebels by EU governments .

 

[djaheim]

As irking as it is, unfortunately this is here to stay. An uncle wold me back in the 70's he would fly offshore with a briefcase of cash to deposit. No questions asked! But now you cant even deposit $5K or £5K in cash without being asked additonal questions and letters through the post to explain.

 

[Sir Gelato]

I usually have to review too many Kyc's and I have to agree that they ask too many things, also we have to monitore transactions of the client...

 

[PlayHardGoPro]

I usually have to review too many Kyc's and I have to agree that they ask too many things, also we have to monitore transactions of the client...

Can you share more details please ?

-----
Also, the Anti Money Laundering rules are enforced for political reasons, but politic peoples and their friends are the biggest money launders out there.
This is only to control the "sclaves", nothing more.

 

[Sir Gelato]

Well, working with HNW clients always has some more risk and we ask as much as possible, basic stuff like passports and national identity id's. When it's a personal account, tax papers, letter from other bank if it's a new client, how much money is going to invest and a description of the transaccions, etc.
If it's a corporate account we need company registration papers, last tax papers, id's and passports from all the peolple involved into the company that has access to the bank accounts. We ask for an an estimate amount of money and transctions, etc.
If we have to review an existing client, the account can be blocked if they don't present the documents needed. Also we monitore all the transactions and explain the biggest ones an an annual internal inform of the customer
Each Kyc it's about 10 to 40 pages word written.
But, depending in what bank you want to open an account they ask less or more.
It's kind of boring, that's why I'm looking to new horizons...

 

[PlayHardGoPro]

Well, working with HNW clients always has some more risk and we ask as much as possible, basic stuff like passports and national identity id's. When it's a personal account, tax papers, letter from other bank if it's a new client, how much money is going to invest and a description of the transaccions, etc.
If it's a corporate account we need company registration papers, last tax papers, id's and passports from all the peolple involved into the company that has access to the bank accounts. We ask for an an estimate amount of money and transctions, etc.
If we have to review an existing client, the account can be blocked if they don't present the documents needed. Also we monitore all the transactions and explain the biggest ones an an annual internal inform of the customer
Each Kyc it's about 10 to 40 pages word written.
But, depending in what bank you want to open an account they ask less or more.
It's kind of boring, that's why I'm looking to new horizons...

Thanks for sharing that, appreciate.
Cheers.

 

[Mark Rucken]

I remember the time when there was no automated exchange of information, no KYC, little due diligence.

During that time, you could open a bank account wherever you wanted. People didn't ask you why you cashed in $1000 from a different country. I had non resident bank account with bank cards. Bank cards were never refused. Banks never contacted me. It always worked smoothly. It was easy to open and close accounts. I remember a time when the bank representatives were nice and they looked happy to do their job.

I think we head to a worldwide totalitarian regime. In this new world, we are monitored, we are all potential "criminals" for the financial institutions. We are tracked by robots like in the movie minority reports.

99% of us are doing nothing to harm people. I think that all the KYC, AML AEOI are just BS. I does not help to make the world better. This didn't stop Daesh from growing in Syria. It didn't kill the mafia in Sicile, the drug cartels in Mexico and Brazil. The OCDE wants to create a matrix and control our life, that's it.

If governments want to fight money laundering, they should fight the root cause of the problem like drug dealing, not money laundering.

If you want to share your nostalgia, reply below.

I remember the time when you could walk in any bank in Cyprus with a suitcase with 100 000 EUR and deposit them to your account without anyone asking you where did you get the money. Cheers.

 

[anotherone]

I remember the time when you could walk in any bank in Cyprus with a suitcase with 100 000 EUR and deposit them to your account without anyone asking you where did you get the money. Cheers.

Yes. I remember this time when the teller was not suspicious at all. They were very polite. They ensured to count your notes. Then, you went to the restaurant and you had one of the best lunch of your life.
Today it is the opposite, once in Riga (Latvia), a bank closed my account, they handed me back 5000 euros in cash. They made a transfer to an IBAN I mentioned Too bad.