I have been a customer of Allied Irish Bank (AIB) since 1987 when I opened an account during Fresher's Week at COMAD and got a three pounds bonus (yes, pounds) for doing same. I have remained with them ever since - even here in Japan - which means I am customer of close on 28 years.
Yet, they don't believe I am who I am.
For the past couple of months AIB have being sending me letters demanding Proof of Identity and Proof of Address documentation because, and I'm quoting from one of their letters, "under current legislation AIB as a bank must be able to show that we know the customers to whom we provide financial services".
So after 28 years AIB still don't know who I am? Amazing.
And they want me to provide proof of my address. Or rather, repeated proof of my address as I already supplied them with this when we bought our house here in Muroran a couple of years ago and I changed the coresspondence address for my account from Ireland to Japan. Plus, they keep sending those letters to Tenjin-cho so you would think they have a fair idea of where I live. But no, apparently they don't really know who I am or where I live.
In order to get off AIB's 'person unknown' list I have to supply them with certified copies of various identifying documents. Certification requires that the "original document ... must be branded and signed as being a true copy of the original".
Now that 'branded' part got me thinking I would need to go down to the local cattle mart but no, it turns out the following will suffice:
(a) Employee of a regulated financial institution
(b) Public Notary
(c) Registered practising Solicitor / Lawyer
(d) Embassy / Consular staff member
To take each of the these in reverse order:
(d) The Irish Embassy is in Tokyo which is a combined four hour car-airplane-train trip away and would cost about 400 Euro there and back. Not an option.
(c) The only encounter I have had with a solicitor here in Japan was when we were buying the house. He was old, expensive, and bizarrely tried to talk me into giving his grand daughter free English lessons.
(b) A public notary will charge ¥11,500 (approximately 90 Euro) per document to be certified. As AIB require three documents that is, maths fans, 270 Euro. Not an option either.
Which leaves us with (a) the regulated financial institution people. The obvious contact here is Shinsei Bank from whom we got our home loan from. But they are based in Tokyo which raises the same problems as (d). Also, besides a quarterly statement, I have had no dealings with the bank in the past 5 years and I would probably have to prove who I am to prove who I am.
The only people who I deal regularly with and could vouch for me as being me are at our local post office, but I am not too sure if they are emotionally ready to legally verify my identity, but I still intend to try.
If that doesn't work, then feck AIB, they'll just have to wait until I am back in Ireland in summer and I rock on up with my Japanese driver's license, Japanese utility bills, and Japanese bank statement, all written in Japanese, and then they can verify who ケイナーさん is.
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I think what they really want is the 3 pounds back or maybe they'll settle for reinstating the 'y'!!
ReplyDeleteD
You should tweet this blog to @askaib Though you may get a response like "We're going home to put the feet up, back here at 9am tomorrow"
ReplyDeleteBTW you don't have to do this at all under law. All you need to do is send a copy of your passport and a recent utility bill. End of story. They are the ones supposed to be doing the risk profiling to see if you're a money launderer. It saves them money if you verify everything for them and save them time and money in their risk profiling.
ReplyDeleteThe official interpretation of the law is:
People who cannot reasonably be expected to produce conventional evidence of identity should not be unreasonably denied access to the services of designated persons. Where a customer is not in a position to provide ‘standard documentation’, a designated person should refer to the documentation and information requirements in Appendix 2 of these Guidelines and ensure that its staff do not cite the requirements of the Act as an excuse for not providing services without giving proper consideration to the evidence available.
You can read more here: http://www.finance.gov.ie/sites/default/files/Criminaljustice2012%20as%20per%20Finance%20Website.pdf
Post your photocopies and refer them to the law. If you walk into an AIB branch tomorrow, all they'll do surprise surprise is photocopy your docs.
Mr. D., thanks for the legal heads up. Will probably do that as the local post office here declined to be part of what they termed "a globe spanning terrorist conspiracy".
ReplyDelete